t LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.) 
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f [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] | 



{UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.} 

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The Well in the Valley. 



II THE 



WELL 



Y A L L E Y. 



'Who passing through the y alley of Baca make it a well." 
Ps. lxxxiv. 6. — See Preface. 



^k 



By REV. THOS/ SMYTH, D.D. 

CHARLESTON, S. C. 



,7 



AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

316 CHESTNUT ST., PHILADELPHIA. 

NEW YORK: No. 59 CHAMBERS STREET. 

BOSTON: No. 9 CORNHILL CINCINNATI: 41 WEST FOURTH ST. 

LOUISVILLE: No. 103 FOURTH ST. 



-* 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by the 

AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern Distinct of 

Pennsylvania. 




- No boWsare published by the American Sunday-Sciiool Union 
without the sanction of the Committee of Publication, consisting of four- 
teen members, from the following denominations of Christians, viz. Baj>- 
tist, Methodist, Congregational, Episcopal, Pysbyterian, Lutheran, and 
Reformed Dutch. Not more than three of the members can be of the same 
denomination, and no book can be published to which any member of the 
Committee shall object 





CHARITY. 



Fair form that sittest on the cloud, 

An image of parental love, 
And from the purple-folding shroud 

To earth descendest from above, 
"With babes enfolded in thine arms, 

As sheltering them from -worldly harms ; 
All words are weak to speak of thee, 

And figure thy fair form divinest charity ! 

How can we paint th.ee' to' our eyes'? 

Thy brow is like the radiant morn, 
Thy flowing robes are azure skies, 

And stars the gems thy robes adorn ; 
The vernal cloud thy chariot fair, 

The winds the steeds that chariot bear, 
And hues of evening clouds that roam, 

Are but the radiant gate that leads unto thy home. 

If thus thou'rt fair with God- above, 

And fairer than all things below, 
Bathed in thy light, immortal love, 

May our hearts burn our footsteps glow ;•'■ 
"With emulous haste our feet be shod, 

To love our neighbor, serve our Lord ; 
His sheep to feed, His lambs to tend, 

Through pastures green their way to wend*,- 
His voice to know, His staff to heed, 

And to His home and banquet lead. 
Such actions are the hearts own door, 

"Whereby affection comes, and multiplies her store, 
Up springing in the Soul with j oy for evermore. 







CHILDHOOD. 



Childhood in God's own temple ever found, 
As*when the lamps of eve their shadows flung, 
And Samuel heard the awful voice profound, 
Or when the temple with hosannas ringing, 
And Christ was welcomed by the infant tongue ! 
Yea, Christ Himself is seen a holy child, 
Sitting His heavenly Father's courts among. 
Then what, Lord, 'mong men by sin denied, 
Is for thy temple meet as childhood undefiled. 

Sweet childhood ! shadow of celestial love, 

Trained to look up and hold a parent's hand, 

And ever lift the eye to one above ; 

Which knows not yet, while it obeys command, 

Hopes all and all believes ; Elysian land ! 

Drinking the air of immortality 

It sheds o'er earth a gleam of paradise ; 

It is a precious sight which angels view, 

In trembling joy and hope ; immortal love, 

Hangs o'er it watching every opening hue, 

Since many such on this bad earth may prove, 

Meet for God's golden house in highest heaven above 





CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE. 
A WORD WITH MY READERS, ----- 9 



CHAPTER II. 
belief in Christ, and confession of Christ, both 

necessary and obligatory, 24 

CHAPTER III. 

YOU MUST FIRST BELIEVE WITH THE HEART, 31 

CHAPTER IT. 

WHAT IT IS TO BELIEYE, FURTHER EXPLAINED AND URGED, 50 

CHAPTER V. 

GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 59 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOUL ENCOURAGED TO 

MAKE AN OPEN CONFESSION. - - - - T3 

2* 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

PACE. 
OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF A PUBLIC PROFESSION 

OF FAITH, -------91 

I 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING TO UNITE WITH THE 

CHURCH AND COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. - - 142 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE TRUE BELIEVER REMEMBERING ClIRIST AT THE COM- ' 

MUNION TABLE, - - - - - -182 

CHAPTER X. 

WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 

What the Lord's Supper is, and what it Teaches, - 26S 

The Honor and Glory of Membership in. Christ's Church, and 

how Disciples should therefore Live and Act, - 2S0 

The Work to be done, and the Way to do it, - - 301 

The Lord's Supper often a converting ordinance, - 313 

The Lord's Supper adapted to do good to children, - 32,) 

A Word to those, who, from whatever cause, are not Members 

of the Church, ------ 352 

CHAPTER XL 
A Plea for the Church, - - - - - D79 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Communion of Saints, - - - - 402 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Conclusion, - 425 



PREFACE. 



The Well in the Valley ! What lovely and attractive 
pictures do these words present to tbe imagination ! 
Let us portray one of them. 

We behold a most agreeable landscape. Mountains to 
the North and South, enclose a valley whose land is 
highly cultivated, and covered with flocks and herds. It 
is watered by the river Litanus and several other streams, 
and is a delicious and enchanting country. With a balmy 
atmosphere and salubrious climate, it is the very place 
to induce a company of pilgrims on their way to Jerusa- 
lem to tarry for a night. The fruit-bearing mulberry 
tree with its lofty branches and broad spreading leaves 
every where abounds. Interspersed among these are found 
the palm, the olive, the cedar, the oak, the fir, the syc- 
amore, the chesnut, the willow and other trees which not 
only add graceful ornament to the landscape, but afford 
most refreshing shelter from the direct and injurious rays 
of a tropical sun ; contribute essentially to the comfort, 
and even sustenance of the inhabitants by their abundant 
fruit ; while by their juices they administer cooling and me- 
dicinal draughts. Many of these trees flower twice in the 
season, and bear fruit all the year round. Flowers also 
3* 



Vlll PREFACE. 



grow in this valley in great profusion and variety. The 
meadows are adorned in succession by the blossoms of 
the different species of anemone ranunculus, crocus, tulip, 
narcissus, hyacinth, lily and violet. These, together 
with the iris, the almond tree, the cassia, the wild grape, 
the myrtle, the spikenard, and innumerable daffodils, 
crowfoots, and jessamines, form an enameled carpet which 
perfumes the air with the most grateful odors, and thus 
embalm while they perfect a scene replete with every 
thing that can gratify the eye, or charm the imagination. 

Such was the valley of Baca, alluded to in Scripture, 
supposing it to refer to that plain (still called Bakaa) 
which lies in one of the most northern districts whence 
travellers were accustomed to journey to Jerusalem. 
This every Israelite was required to do thrice a year, to 
the three great feasts — the passover, pentecost, and that 
of tabernacles. These festivals could be celebrated only at 
Jerusalem which was the mother of all Israelites, the centre 
and source of all their religious solemnities, the bond of 
union, and the great leading type of that temple which 
is not made with hands eternal in the heavens. To pre- 
pare for this, all the types and shadows, the sacrifices and 
oblations of the Mosaic economy were instituted, the 
means of grace, and the pledge and foretaste of its celestial 
blessedness. There were then, as now, family religious 
services, and also public and united worship in the various 
Synagogues of the land. But these were not enough. To 
perpetuate the memory of the fundamental facts of their 
religion ; to keep them steadfast in their profession ; to 
hold forth the majesty of divine service and the glory of 
Israel and Israel's God ; to imbue their minds with more 
profound knowledge and spiritual experience ; to con- 
solidate the bonds of peace by a unity of faith, hope 



PREFACE. IX 



and joy ; and above all to constitute special occasions of 
sacred fellowship and divine blessings ; a personal atten- 
dance, implying a public profession and solemn com- 
munion, was required of all Israelites, three times every year. 
It was in this way that believers, under the Old Testa- 
ment economy of the church, proclaimed their spiritual 
oneness, not only as one visible church but as bound 
together in holy covenant and fellowship with Jehovah. 
This was the. very heart and soul of the Mosaic religion. 
The great end and purpose of every thing about it was to 
open up the way through the sacrifice and mediation of a 
coming Saviour, for the restoration of guilty sinners to a 
sin pardoning God, so that they might find in Him the 
centre of their being, their only absolute and supreme good, 
the fountain of all excellence and blessedness, their only 
proper and satisfying rest, 

And thus bring back, 
Through, the world's wilderness long wander 'd man 
Safe to eternal Paradise of rest. 

To believing and spiritual minds, the dearest place 
on earth was the sanctuary of God, the courts of Jehovah, 
God's house. Heart and flesh, — every power and faculty of 
body and mind — longed for them. When away from them 
or prevented from repairing to them, such individuals 
envied the felicity of those who dwelt at Jerusalem, and 
even the little birds which found shelter and protection 
around the sacred precincts of God's altars. And while 
to unbelieving and pleasure seeking hearts the beauty of 
Baca's vale was more attractive than the dwellings of the 
Lord of Hosts, pious hearts only made it a highway along 
which to pass, and a well beside which to refresh them- 
selves, while they eagerly pressed forward to appear be- 
fore God in Zion. 



X PREFACE. 

Those are at home ; these journey still 
To build their nest on Zion's hill. 
Blest ! who their strength on thee reclined 
Thy courts explore with constant mind, 
And Salem's distant towers still view ; 
"With active zeal their way pursue ; 
Secure the thirsty vale they tread ; 
While oozing from their rocky soil, 
The copious springs their steps beguile, 
And bid the cheerless desert smile, 
As down in grateful showers distilled . 
The heavens their kindliest moisture yield ; 
From stage to stage advancing still, 
Behold them reach fair Zion's hill, 
And prostrate at her hallowed shrine, 
Adore the maj esty divine. 

Re-union and communion with God has therefore been 
the great end of true religion from the beginning of the 
world ; and union with His church and communion in its 
privileges and duties, have ever been the means through 
which these inestimable blessings have been enjoyed — 
the well in the valley of life from which weary and thirsty 
souls have drawn forth the w T aters of salvation. Such is 
the order of God's appointed method of salvation and 
sanctification. The God of ordinances has ever been 
revealed most sensibly to the hungry and thirsty soul 
in the ordinances of God. Believers, having spiritual life 
imparted to them by the Holy Spirit, have ever like new 
born babes desired the sincere milk, and as they grew in 
grace the stronger food, supplied by the word and ordin- 
ances of God. These have been to them what home and 
parents, and a well filled storehouse and generous hearted 
kindness are to the children of loving parents. In the valley 
of life the church has ever been to such souls, the well- 
spring of all true personal and social happiness. Around 



PREFACE. XI 



this they clustered. Here they erected their tents. Here 
they spread their table in the wilderness and around its 
board they feasted on the fat things, the bread of heaven 
and the living water. However distant from it in bodily 
presence, it was still near to them at heart. Participation 
in the pleasures of communion, with each other and with 
God, were their chiefest joy, and to be cut off from them 
by any insuperable obstacle, their heaviest affliction. u If 
I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 
cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave 
to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above 
my chief joy." 

And such will be the church of God which he purchased 
with his own blood, and the ordinances of God which at 
once commemorate and communicate his unspeakable 
mercies, and the service of God, which is an ever fresh 
reward in its own sanctifying power and in its ultimate 
recompense, — ever be regarded by every loving and be- 
lieving heart. 

The world may be to you, dear reader, like the valley of 
Baca full of beauty and refreshment. But if you are a 
child of God, you will turn away from all created beauty 
and all transient joy to Him who is the source of all that 
is beautiful and desirable in life, and find in Christ and 
Him crucified, and in that church whicli he instituted, 
and of which he is the foundation, your chiefest joy, the 
home and rest of your soul, the life of your life, the radi- 
ance of its beauty and the rapture of its joys. There you 
will learn to use without abusing the mercies of a generous 
Father. There you will be taught how to glorify the giver 
in the enjoyment of his gifts. There you will be disposed 
to consecrate body, soul and spirit, influence and affluence, 
time and talents, to Him who hath loved you and given 



XII PREFACE, 



himself for you. And there you wUl be enabled so to 
improve the many blessings intrusted to your use, so as to 
make to yourself Mends who shall receive you into ever- 
lasting habitations. 

But it is only to the few, and to these few but for a short 
and uncertain season, that life is so favorable, and the 
world so charming. To the great majority life is what has 
been most generally understood by the valley of Baca, a 
vale of tears, a place of weeping, a dry and thirsty land 
where no water is, a dreary waste, a thorny road, a weary 
pilgrimage through a howling wilderness. 

Such is the interpretation, anciently and now generally 
preferred, of the passage selected as our motto, and 
suggestive of our title. The valley of Baca was probably 
some dry, desolate valley — the valley of weeping, as it 
maybe literally rendered,— and is employed as a beautiful 
description of this life, regarded as the vale of tears, 
clouded by sorrow and destitute of all inward and heart 
satisfying consolation, As the valley of Baca lay on the 
route to Jerusalem, a road may have been constructed 
through it, and a well of capacious size excavated to receive 
and retain the early and the latter rains. Here then the 
pilgrims towards Zion would halt. They would make this 
a stage in their journey— a well where under the cover 
of some building, analogous to our inns, they would enjoy 
shade, rest and refreshment. And just what this well in 
the valley of Baca was to the ancient pilgrims to Jerusa- 
lem, — their type of heaven, — such is the church to wean- 
pilgrims now on their journey through this vale of tears. 
It is a temporary home, a rest, a refuge from the storm, a 
shelter from the burning rays of the sun, a well of living 
water, a source of happiness, a fountain of delight. 

This is what the church is designed to be. and what it 



PREFACE. XUl 



is to every hungry and thirsty, to every weary and heavy 
laden soul, which having found peace and joy in believ- 
ing rejoices in hope of the glory of God. It is what 
many interpreters have understood by the inn to which in 
the parable, the wounded traveller was borne that he 
might be nursed, nourished and restored. Happy, says 
the Psalmist in the same Psalm, is such a man ! His 
strength is in God ! All obstacles are removed out of his 
way, and an easy and delightful access is opened up for 
him unto God through the pathless wilderness, of his 
own sinful, guilty and despairing fears. All his springs 
are now in Christ, from whom living streams of spirit- 
ual health are continually supplied by which he is 
strengthened, and made fruitful in holiness, and in every 
good word and work. And as the church is Christ's 
appointed instrumentality for the administration of 
ordinances and the communication of spiritual blessings, 
and especially (as in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper) 
the nearest and dearest communion with Him possible 
upon earth — the poor wandering bird to which the 
Psalmist compares the believer while on earth, finds in it 
a resting place and home both for itself and its helpless 
young. 

Forth from the dark and stormy sky, 

Lord, to thine altar's shade we fly ; 

Forth from the world, its hope and fear, 

Saviour, we seek thy shelter here : 

Weary and weak, thy grace we pray 

Turn not, Lord ! thy guests away. 

Long have we roamed in want and pain, 
Long have we sought thy rest in vain ; 
Wildered in doubt, in darkness lost, 
Long have our souls "been tempest-tost. 
Low at thy feet our sins we lay ; 
Turn not, O Lord ! thy guests away ! 



XIV PREFACE. 



To you, then r my dear reader, who art yet in the valley 
of life, whether it is to you sorrowful or joyful, I would 
point out this home — the well in the valley — and invite 
and encourage yom to draw near, to abide under the sha- 
dow of its- sacred walls, and to drink abundantly of its 
living water. This is the object of my book. It is not a 
story book, though you will find in it numerous and I hope 
very interesting stories from real life. I trust you feel your 
need of true piety and an earnest desire to obtain it. I 
hope also that you. cherish a deep and heartfelt respect for 
the church,, and that you would esfceem it a great privilege 
as it is your most solemn obligation, to be a worthy mem- 
ber of it.. As* such allow me to take you by the hand and 
talk with you as Christ did witfo the woman of Samaria. 
You are afraid to hope in. Christ, to cast yourself upon 
him as a guilty sinner fully sensible of your weakness of 
faith and insensibility of heart, and you are afraid to pro- 
fess religion, because,. a& you think, you are too young, - * 
or too unworthy, and because you might afterwards fall 
away and disgrace your high calling. Perhaps like the 
Psalmist you may realize how amiable are God's taber- 
nacles, an«k how goodly are the tents of Jacob. Your 
soul may long and faint for the courts of the Lord. 
You may even envy those that are already dwellers on 
Zion, who come up with: joy to its solemn feasts, who go 
on their way rejoicing and have songs of gladness put into 
their mouths in the house of their pilgrimage. You may 
often ask yourself the question, Ought I to join the church ? 
and think that you would rather be a worthy doorkeeper 
in the house of the- Lord, than to dwell at ease amid the 
tents of wickedness. 

* John Wesley was a communicant in his father's church at the age 
of eight. 



PREFACE. XV 



Allow me then to guide yon to tliis happiness, this free- 
dom from inward cares, this quiet peace of mind, this glad- 
ness and contentment of spirit. I would rejoice to be 
able to remove your fears and doubts by presenting to you 
the fulness, freeness, and sufficiency of Christ for pardon, 
peace, holiness and perseverance even unto the end ; and 
the adaptation of his church to supply strength, confidence, 
and comfort, and constantly renewed vigor to enable you 
to proceed from stage to stage through this valley of weep- 
ing, until you appear before God, as a spirit of the just 
made perfect in heaven. 

A story is told of a tribe of Indians who fled from a 
relentless foe in the trackless forest in the southwest. 
Weary and travel worn they reached a noble river which 
flowed through a beautiful country. The chief of the 
band stuck his tent pole in the ground and exclaimed : — 
"Alabama ! Alabama !" " Here we shall rest ! Here we 
shall rest !" 

Come then, thou wearied and foot-sore pilgrim, into 
this peaceful valley and there find Him who once tarried 
at the well of Jacob, and in the fulness of his imparted 
peace and joy, and descending like dew from the Lord, as 
showers upon the grass, you will be constrained with all 
his true followers to say, " Here we shall rest. Here we 
shall rest." 

Come, listening spirit come ! 

Good angels guide thy way; 
Our Shepherd bids thee to his fold, 

The gracious call obey. 

No more the cold gray stone 

His sepulchre doth seal ; 
' Tis rolled away — our Lord is risen ; 

He stoops our wounds to heal. 



XVI PREFACE. 



Come, waiting spirit, come J 
His hallowed board is spread ; 

Turn from the false delights of earth, 
And take the living bread ; 

And in that strength Divine, 

Pass on thy pilgrim way ; 
Make him thy pole-star through the night, 

Thy sunbeam all the day. 

And guard with faithful hand 

The promise of his love, 
To share his banquet here below, 

And be his guest above. 



A WORD WITH MY READERS. 



My dear Reader — If your minister, or some 
small thread of providence, has led you to take 
up this volume, I hope you will allow me to 
introduce myself to you as a friend. You are 
a man or a woman, young, full grown, middle- 
aged, or advancing in years. As such, you 
have a soul to be saved or lost. This matter 
must be soon determined, finally and forever. 
In the midst of life you are in death, and 
with death the day of your merciful visitation 
closes, and the night cometh in which no man 
can any more work out his own salvation, be- 
cause there is no more any place for repent- 
ance, and because God no longer worketh in 
any heart to will and to do. 

I take it for granted that you believe and 
realize these momentous truths. I hope you 
have very carefully and prayerfully read that 
most valuable book recently issued by this Soci- 
ety, " The Great Question, or will you consider 
the subject of Personal Religion ?" If so, you 
1 



10 A WORD WITH MY READERS. 



feel, as I presume you do, an anxious desire to 
know the way of God more perfectly. You 
cannot but feel that in order to be a Christian 
there is much for you to DO, as well as much 
for you to know, and experimentally to feel. 

" The Church of the living God, which He 
purchased with His own blood," exists. It 
has existed always, from the very beginning 
of time. It is the kingdom of light, in con- 
trast with a the kingdom of darkness," "the 
kingdom of God," in contrast with "the 
World," of which Satan is the God and Prince ; 
and it "is righteousness and peace and joy in 
the Holy Ghost," in contrast with sin and sel- 
fishness and sensuality — "the lusts of the flesh, 
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." 

Now, of one or other of these you are a mem- 
ber. You were "born of the flesh/' in and of 
the world, and you have grown up, perhaps, and 
willingly remained in this kingdom of Satan, 
living " according to the course of this world," 
and not according to the will and word of God, — 
" seeking your own things, and not the things 
of God ;" — loving and serving the creature and 
your own will and wishes, "rather than the 
Creator, who is God over all and blessed for- 



A WORD WITH MY READERS. 11 



ever," and whom you are bound to love and 
serve with all your heart and soul and strength 
and mind. 

To become a Christian it is very evident, 
therefore, that you must, as Scripture teaches, 
be " translated out of the kingdom of darkness 
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ/' and "live no longer 
unto yourself, but unto Him who died for you 
and rose again." The question, therefore, 
" ought I to join the church, and to become a 
subject of the kingdom of God?" must earn- 
estly engage your thoughts. For there can be 
no neutrality, no compromise between God and 
Mammon, Christ and Satan, the World and the 
Church- He that is not with Christ is against 
Him, and he that followeth not after Him is 
none of His, and is counted for an enemy and 
a traitor. You cannot serve both parties any 
more than a soldier could fight both for the 
Russians and the Allies in the Crimean war. 

God claims the allegiance of every man to 
Christ, to whom " all power is given in heaven 
and on earth, and to whom every knee must 
bow" — as a friend or an enemy — " of things 
in heaven and things on earth, and things un- 



12 A WORD WITII MY READERS. 



der the earth." But to bow to Christ is to be- 
come a member of His kingdom, by having the 
enmity of our hearts slain by the power of 
the Holy Ghost, so that, laying down " the 
weapons of our rebellion," we " deny ourselves, 
take up our cross, and follow Christ," as our 
Leader, Master, Teacher and King. 

"Ought I to join the Church of Christ?" 
Yes, my dear reader, you ought and must, or 
perish among His adversaries. I speak of the 
Church now in its spiritual character, as One 
in God the Father, one in Christ, one in the 
Spirit, one in faith and hope and glory. Of 
this church or kingdom you must be a member 
here below, in order to be a partaker in its glori- 
ous consummation, and blessedness in heaven. 
How foolish, then, is it for persons to think 
they ought not to join the church. Ought 
they not to repent and believe the Gospel, and 
be saved ? But this is to be made members of 
the church or kingdom of God which "is within 
you" — in the heart. Every man, therefore, 
ought assuredly to repent and believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Having done this, then it 
is his duty to inquire in what portion of that 
kingdom, as visibly represented among men, 



A WORD WITH MY READERS. 13 



ho should " go in, yes into Christ's vineyard, 
and work ?" On this point, however, I do not 
wish to advise you. My object is higher. I 
wish to urge upon you the paramount duty of 
becoming spiritual members of Christ's spirit- 
ual kingdom or church, and to show you the 
provision made for your help, encouragement, 
and growth in grace, in the ordinances, duties 
and enterprises of the Church, in whatever 
evangelical denomination you are led to "cast 
in your lot." 

This, then, is my object, dear reader, in 
writing this volume. I wish to come into your 
closet with you, and reason with you. I know 
how diffident persons are to speak on this sub- 
ject with their own pastor, parents, or friends. 
This is very strange, but very common, and 
proves how averse the natural heart is to spirit- 
ual things, and how deep-seated are its pride 
and alienation from God. The extent to which 
this morbid feeling is carried has often sur- 
prised me. Not long since I was greatly in- 
terested in the case of a young lady who had 
long been seriously considering the subject of 
personal religion, but who was remarkably diffi- 
dent and unwilling to be approached on the 
1# 



14 A WORD WITH MY READERS. 



subject. I tried in vain to draw her out into 
conversation, or to get a correct knowledge of her 
actual views and feelings. I gave her a book 
to read, which I thought would open up the 
way for conversation after reading it ; but 
although, as I afterwards learned, she read it, 
with very great anxiety, she returned it, 
with the special request that I would not 
speak to her on the subject of religion. What 
was I to clo? I felt very solicitous to do 
her good. I induced my wife, to whom she 
was very much attached, to converse with 
her and endeavor to overcome her reluctance 
to converse with me. She consented to 
come and see her, though under a promise 
that I should not speak to her. She came, 
and after a long and most touching interview 
with her, my wife came into my room deeply 
affected, and said to me, "I know not what to 
do. I have said all I can to her, and I wish 
you would go in and see her." I went in and 
found her trembling like an aspen leaf. I en- 
deavored to allay her excited feelings, by as- 
suring her that although I felt very anxious to 
converse with her, and give her the benefit of 
any experience and knowledge I might have, 



A WORD WITH MY READERS. 15 



that nevertheless I would say nothing to her, 
unless it was agreeable to her own feelings. 
She soon became calm enough to speak, when 
she said, "I am not fit or prepared to join the 
church." "It would be the very last thing I 
would advise you to do," I replied, "to unite 
with any particular church, unless you are both 
fit and prepared. You may, however, be both 
fit and prepared, and yet imagine that you are 
not, and thus be led to neglect both a positive 
duty and a most important means of grace and 
confidence, of comfort and usefulness. I would 
be very glad, therefore, if you would tell me 
what you consider necessary in order to unit- 
ing with the church." She replied, that " she 
did not think any one ought to unite with a 
church unless they felt satisfied in their own 
minds that their hearts were renewed by the 
Spirit of God, and that they really loved 
Christ." I told her that I was very glad to 
hear her say so, as I thought it would be both 
sinful and dangerous for any one to profess 
what they did not really believe and feel, and 
that it was undoubtedly the primary and all- 
important matter to secure an interest in Christ, 
the influences of the Spirit, and an abiding de- 



16 A WORD WITH MY READERS. 



termination and desire to become not merely a 
professor, but a possessor of religion, and not 
merely an outwardly consistent member of the 
church, but a real Christian — a Christian in 
principle, in heart, and in growing sanctification 
and holiness. But, I added, while this is true, 
many persons look for evidences of this state 
of heart which are not essential, and overlook 
those that exist within them, and which are 
quite sufficient to prove that God, the Holy 
Ghost, has " worked in them" to will and to 
feel as they do, and who ought therefore to 
"work out their own salvation," by doing 
"whatsoever Christ has commanded," and re- 
lying upon whatsoever Christ has promised to 
do in and for those that commit their souls 
unto Him, as unto a faithful Redeemer. It is 
necessary to have faith, and love, and hope, 
and an unqualified submission to God in Christ, 
a willingness to give up everything inconsistent 
with a loving and loyal obedience to Him, and 
a sincere desire to be saved from sin as well as 
from guilt, and to be sanctified and made a 
holy, happy, whole-hearted Christian, as well 
as to be justified and delivered from condem- 
nation. But it is not necessary that these 



A WORD WITII MY READERS. 17 



views and feelings should be perfect, unclouded, 
and untroubled with doubts. The question is, 
do you, as far as you know your own heart, 
really feel in this way ? Do you feel anxious to 
have these feelings strengthened and confirmed, 
and is it your sincere desire and purpose, with 
the help of divine grace, to live and act as a 
true and devoted and growing spiritual Chris- 
tian ? If you do, then you have evidence that 
the ever-blessed Spirit has wrought in you a 
saving change; and you have in these feelings 
and convictions and desires, the fruits of that 
Spirit by which He witnesseth with your spirit 
that you are born again, not of the will, or 
word, or power of man, not of water merely, 
but by the washing of regeneration and renew- 
ing of the Holy Ghost. It is not for you to 
prescribe to God any amount or degree of 
feeling, any time or mode of conversion, and 
still less the enjoyment of peace, hope and confi- 
dence, before " doing the will of Christ," and as 
the result of so " doing," feeling assured by your 
own joyful consciousness that your experience 
of the saving power of His gospel "is from 
God." The order of God's working in the 
conversion of the soul is as various in different 



18 A WORD WITH MY READERS. 



individuals as their individual character and 
history, or as the breaking and progress of the 
light of day to which it is in Scripture compared. 
On some the light of the Sun of Righteousness 
shines with the dawn of life, and their light in- 
creases with such silent and imperceptible de- 
velopment that its origin is lost amid the memo- 
ries of infancy. Such is also the case with others 
w r ho are brought up in the green pastures and 
by the pleasant waters of parental piety and 
instruction, and whose early feet have learned 
to walk in the ways of wisdom and the paths 
of peace. To others, again, the dawn and 
morning, and perhaps noon of life, are clouded 
in darkness, so that no light, no " clear shining" 
appears, until all at once, as to Saul of Tarsus, 
that sun breaks through the intervening clouds 
and dazzles and overcomes them by its bright- 
ness. The question, therefore, in every case, is 
not when or how r , or with what accompanying evi- 
dence, the heart is " transformed by the renew- 
ing of the Holy Ghost," but what are the pre- 
sent, prevailing, and permanent evidences that 
" He who hath wrought you for the self-same 
thing is God." And as to peace and confi- 
dence and joy, these are the rewards and recom- 



A WOKD WITH MY READEKS. 19 



pcnscs, and not, generally, the precursors of 
actual devotion, and trustful compliance with 
all known and prescribed duty. 

Our conversation was long. My young friend 
became full and free in her communications, 
and the result was, my clear conviction that 
God had early called her by His Spirit, as He 
did Samuel, and that, — as I have often found the 
case, — by long self-inquiry, and distrust, and 
procrastination, she had become incapable of 
forming a right estimate of her own feelings and 
of her real convictions. Such a course will inva- 
riably engender doubts and difficulties, and 
cause those who have good reason to rejoice 
and give God thanks for what He has done for 
their souls, and to " take the cup of salvation 
and pay their vows unto the Lord, in the pres- 
ence of the congregation," to u hang their 
heads as a bulrush," and to go in heaviness for 
many years. 

The ultimate result with this young lady, 
and with various other persons to whom I 
might refer, has been, that they have found 
Christ faithful to his promises. They were em- 
boldened to present themselves before His altar, 
to enter into public and solemn covenant with 



20 A WORD WITH MY READERS. 



Him, to find in so doing strength and confi- 
dence imparted to them, and having been 
planted in the house of God, to flourish in the 
courts of the Lord, and still to bring forth fruit 
in all the exercises and activities of the Chris- 
tian's life. 

Not very long ago, I entered into conversa- 
tion with a middle-aged gentleman, on the sub- 
ject of religion, and his duty as a father of a 
family, to live and act as a Christian parent. 
He admitted the truth of all I said, and that 
he had thought much and deeply on the sub- 
ject ; " but," said he, " it is a very solemn thing 
to join the church, and ought to be very fully 
and carefully considered, especially as many 
join the church who fall from their high call- 
ing and thus bring great disrepute upon re- 
ligion." " That is very true," said I. " Our 
Saviour himself told us that in the church there 
would be tares as well as wheat, and bad as 
well as good professors. But you must also 
admit that it is a very solemn thing to live, 
and a very solemn thing to die ; and that, if, 
as it clearly is, your duty to be a true Chris- 
tian and a member of Christ's church, it is a 
very solemn thing to live in open disobedience 



A WORD WITH MY READERS. 21 



and neglect of Christ's authority and com- 
mandments. " 

And is it not, my dear reader? Let me 
then beseech you to accompany me in earnest 
prayerfulness, while I endeavor to point out to 
you the nature and evidences of faith in Christ, 
and the duty, and privilege, and great advan- 
tages, of being a consistent member of His 
church on earth. I know you not. I shall 
never probably see you. But I am with you 
in spirit, and I love you as one of God's chil- 
dren, and therefore, my brother or sister in the 
flesh, I should be very thankful if I can, to 
any degree, be helpful to you in your present 
state of mind. I know how trying it is, and 
can sympathize with you; and "niy heart's 
desire and prayer to God for you is, that you 
may be saved." But there is One who can do 
infinitely more and better for you than I could 
possibly do ; One who can both give you right 
views and feelings, and the evidences of them, 
and who can " strengthen you with all might 
in the inner man," and dispose and enable you 
for every duty. Oh ! yes, it hath not entered 
into the heart of any man to conceive fully the 
way of God in the conversion of the soul. Do 
2 



22 A WORD WITH MY READERS. 



thou, therefore, All-seeing, Omnipotent Spirit, 
the Comforter and Guide of souls, manifest thy 
presence and power to thy servant or hand- 
maid, whosoever they be, that read this book. 
Unseal and open their eyes. Unstop their ears. 
Unbar the closed door of their hearts. Illumine 
their understandings. Enliven their conscience. 
Quicken their dead hearts. Guide their doubt- 
ing spirits. Bring Christ, in His all-sufficiency, 
fullness and freeness, as a living, loving, divine, 
ever-present and omnipotent Saviour, before 
their minds. In Thy light may they see light. 
From Thy life may they derive life. And do 
Thou so help all their infirmities and overcome 
all their difficulties, that they may be enabled 
to come to Christ as sinful, guilty, and impo- 
tent ; and relying on His grace, take up their 
cross, deny themselves, come out from the world 
and be separate, and follow Him by a diligent 
observance of all His statutes and command- 
ments. 

Come in,' thou blessed of the Lord, 

Stranger nor foe art thou ; 
We welcome thee with warm accord, 

Our friend, our brother now. 

The hand of fellowship, the heart 
Of love, we offer thee j 



A WORD AYITH MY READERS. 23 



Leaving the world, thou dost but part 
From lies and vanity. 

The cup of blessing which we bless, 
The heavenly bread we break, 

— Our Saviour's blood and righteousness,- 
Freely with us partake. 

In weal or woe, in joy or care, 

Thy portion shall be ours ; 
Christians their mutual burthens share, 

They lend their mutual powers. 

Come with us, we will do thee good, 

As God to us hath done ; 
Stand but in Him, as those have stood 

Whose faith the victory won. 

And when by turns w r e pass away, 

As star by star grows dim, 
May each, translated into day, 

Be lost and found in Him. 



SECTION II. 

BELIEF IN CHRIST, AND CONFESSION OF CHRIST, 
BOTH NECESSARY AND OBLIGATORY. 

In the order of nature man must believe be- 
fore he can confess the truth as it is in Jesus, 
and must have faith and confidence in the per- 
son, work, and glorious all-sufficiency of Christ, 
before he can commit his soul into His hands 
as a faithful Redeemer, and openly acknow- 
ledge and confess Him before men. And yet, 
in that striking declaration of the apostle — 
(Rom. x. 9, 10) — " If thou shalt confess with 
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in 
thine heart that God hath raised him from the 
dead, thou shalt be saved : for with the heart 
man believeth unto righteousness ; and with 
the mouth confession is made unto salvation," 
we find confession is placed before believing. 
The reason of this apparent anomaly is found 
in the fact, that the apostle had more immedi- 
ate reference to the judgment of man than to 
that of God. God looketh upon the heart, and 



BELIEF AND CONFESSION OF CH1UST. 25 



can discern its thoughts and intents. He can 
see faith even when it has never yet been whis- 
pered to the ear of mortal. But it is far dif- 
ferent with respect to man. He can only judge 
from the outward appearance, and discover the 
state of the heart by the conversation and the 
conduct. Our heartfelt belief can therefore be 
known to our fellow-men only by our open con- 
fession and our correspondent outward devo- 
tion. A man's character is known by the com- 
pany he keeps ; and a man's opinions are know T n, 
in every free country ', by the party to which he 
is attached, and by his own free and constant 
publication of them. And, in the same way, 
do we judge whether a man really and at heart, 
believes and trusts in the Saviour, by his read- 
iness to confess Him before men, and to hold 
fast the profession of his faith steadfast to the 
end. When speaking, therefore, in reference 
to the judgment of man, the apostle puts con- 
fession, which is the effect, before belief, which 
is the cause, because it is only by the effect we 
can know anything of the cause. 

But there is another reason for this arrange- 
ment, and that is, that so far as it regards oth- 
ers, the open and steadfast confession of the 
2# 



26 BELIEF AND CONFESSION OF CHRIST. 



truth is of more importance to the church and 
the world, than its inward possession. For 
the same reason that we cannot see the faith of 
another, which is in the heart, that faith can 
have no influence over us while it remains there. 
It cannot afford a testimony for the truth of 
Christ, or the all-sufficiency and glory of Christ. 
It cannot demonstrate to us the nature, efficacy 
and power of the gospel, and its ability to 
mould and fashion the character, and to sustain 
the soul in every time of need. It cannot, 
therefore, prevail upon others to "acquaint 
themselves now with God, and be at peace with 
Him," by the evident manifestation of what He 
has done for our souls. Our faith, therefore, 
to have any value to others — to be promotive 
of the glory of God — to advance the cause and 
kingdom of Christ — to bear an efficient testi- 
mony for Christ and his cross — and to lead to 
the conviction and conversion of others, must 
be openly confessed and manifested before men. 
Nay : would we reap any fruits and benefits 
from faith in our own souls, would we experi- 
ence its power to save, to sanctify, to transform 
the heart, to mould our principles, to fashion 
our lives, and to sustain and comfort us under 



BELIEF AND CONFESSION OF CHRIST. 27 



all our trials, we must " come out from the 
world, take up our cross, deny ourselves," and 
identify ourselves with Christ's church and 
people, in a profession of the truth as it is in 
Jesus, and a diligent observance of His ap- 
pointed ordinances. 

But, while all this is true, still it is equally 
true that a mere profession of Christ, a mere 
outward observance of ordinances, is vain, 
worthless, and dangerous to salvation. It can- 
not do good to others, it cannot do good to our- 
selves, and it cannot glorify our Saviour. It 
is, in the moral world, what a monster is in the 
natural world, and bears no more resemblance 
to real piety than a picture does to a living 
man. 

A picture is an imitation, and is perfect in 
proportion as that imitation is complete. And 
thus, also, is a profession of religion by mem- 
bership and communion in some church, an imi- 
tation of true religion, which, existing in the 
heart, makes itself manifest in the life and con- 
duct. Such a profession is considered good 
just so far as it is characterized by what are 
the outward natural acts and exercises of a be- 
lieving, loving heart, and may thus deceive 



28 BELIEF AND CONFESSION OF CHRIST. 



others, and even a man himself. But it can- 
not deceive God, nor will He accept it as a 
substitute for heart religion. Without this it 
is worthless and dangerous. It is but a tare 
among the wheat, and can only at last be de- 
stroyed. Such a profession of religion God 
does not require, nor would I encourage. The 
rule of Christ is, "first give yourselves unto 
the Lord, and then unto His church — first be- 
lieve with the heart, and then confess with the 
mouth." 

Neither a profession, then, without faith, nor 
faith without a profession, is a complete, per- 
fect, or symmetrical whole — a true develop- 
ment of man's glorious powers under the influ- 
ence of the gospel. And the reason is, that 
man is a compound being, possessed of a body 
as well as a soul — of affections as well as intel- 
lect — of active powers as well as an understand- 
ing — and of social qualities as well as of per- 
sonal attributes. What he does as man, he 
does with all his faculties ; and what he ap- 
proves in his understanding, he carries out into 
action by his will and his active powers. When 
a man, therefore, believes in his heart, he lives, 
and moves, and acts, in accordance with the 



BELIEF AND CONFESSION OF CHRIST. 29 



nature of the thing believed. There is no 
power which can paralyze the will to do where 
there is a heart to do, and a possibility of doing. 
In order to enable any man, therefore, heartily 
to do, it is necessary that he should heartily 
believe. This belief is the principle — the be- 
ginning — the fountain — the elastic spring — the 
ever-living power which works in us to will and 
to do. 

Faith is the mightiest principle of human 
nature. It is the only inlet to our knowledge 
of every thing without us, every thing past and 
to come, every thing invisible and divine. It 
lies at the foundation of character and conduct. 
A man is what he really, not seemingly believes, 
and by inevitable necessity a man will act in 
accordance with what he sincerely and firmly 
believes. And as in regard to every thing else, 
man is ever ready to hazard anything, and to 
make any sacrifices, for what he believes re- 
quires, and will remunerate, the cost ; so it is 
with him who truly believes in the truths of 
the gospel. They will become to him princi- 
ples of life and conduct, and mould and trans- 
form his character, and direct and control his 
actions. As coals of fire they will burn within 



80 BELIEF AND CONFESSION OF CHRIST. 



him, until they find vent in the flames of cle- 
votedness and zeal. 

" 'Tis faith that changes all the heart, 

'Tis faith that works by love, 
That bids all sinful joys depart, 

And lifts the thoughts above. 

16 'Tis faith that conquers earth and hell, 

By a celestial power; 
This is the grace that shall prevail 

In the decisive hour." 



BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 31 



SECTION IIL 

YOU MUST FIRST BELIEVE WITH THE HEART. 

Would you, then, my dear reader, be saved ? 
Would you " be reconciled to God, and be at 
peace with him," and thus be prepared for 
death, judgment, and eternity ? Then you must 
do all that God requires, and in the order which 
He prescribes. You must first believe the tes- 
timony of God concerning Christ, with your 
heart, and then you must confess Christ with 
your mouth. God has in infinite mercy pro- 
vided salvation through the incarnation, life, 
death, resurrection, and intercession of Christ. 
He has made a perfect atonement for all sin, 
and wrought out a righteousness which is of 
infinite merit and sufficiency. His "blood clean- 
seth from all sin." God is now reconciled and 
satisfied, so that while " he is a just God, he is 
also a Saviour." "God is now in Christ." 
We have no longer to do with an absolute 
Deity, with God as angry, jealous, and consum- 
ing as a fire. God is now in Christ, to whom 



32 BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 



all judgment has been committed. Christ now 
sits upon the throne, and ever liveth at God's 
right hand, as " head over all things to His 
church," and as " a Prince and a Saviour to give 
repentance and remission of sins." So truly 
is this the case, that no man knoweth God but 
the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal 
him. No man can come unto the Father but 
by the Son. No man can stand justified before 
God but he who stands there in the righteous- 
ness of Christ. It is through Him that the 
Spirit is imparted unto men. In Christ dwell- 
eth all fullness. On Him is laid all our help. 
In Him are treasured up all the riches of Di- 
vine grace and mercy. God, therefore, now 
deals with sinners through Christ. Christ has 
been lifted up, as was his type the brazen ser- 
pent, in the wilderness, that whosoever believ- 
eth in him may be saved. Such is God's plan 
of mercy. Such is the gracious scheme of re- 
demption. Such the way of life. 

Now this plan of redemption evidently sup- 
poses that we are dead. And to believe in 
Christ, therefore, we must have a clear convic- 
tion, (I do not say how deep and strong, but 
a clear and full conviction) that we arc k -dead 



BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 33 



in trespasses and sins ;" that we cannot justify 
ourselves in God's sight ; that we can do nothing 
to reconcile our souls to God; nothing to make 
us acceptable to Him ; nothing to produce peni- 
tence, or feeling, or peace, or joy in our hearts. 
Oh ! my dear reader, have you been brought to 
this state of conviction before God? Are you 
" sure that the judgment of God against you is 
according to truth;" that you are verily guilty 
before Him ; and that you are not only already 
condemned, but that you deserve the condemna- 
tion which is written against you ? Have you 
been driven from all the refuges of lies in which 
men naturally hide themselves from this con- 
viction ? Have you given up your vain efforts 
to establish a righteousness of your own ; either 
by comparing your character with that of oth- 
ers, and it may be with some who are profes- 
sors of religion, and taking comfort from the 
thought that you are as good or better than 
they are; or by endeavoring, in addition to 
your morality, to secure God's favor by pray- 
ing, reading, and observing outward duties ? 
If you have not done this, if you are not con- 
demned by your own conscience as verily guilty 
before God, then, with all your righteousness, 
3 



34 BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 



you are a miserable being. There is more hope 
of a fool, yea, even of the most abominable 
sinner, than there is of thee. To you there is 
not a word of peace, or comfort, or encourage- 
ment in the Gospel. To you Christ cannot be 
"made wisdom;" for you are "wise in your 
own conceit." To you Christ cannot be "made 
righteousness ;" because you think that you are 
already better even than many who are "justi- 
fied by faith." To you Christ cannot be "made 
sanctification," since you imagine that you have 
a good heart, and despise others. To you, 
therefore, the Gospel announces no good tid- 
ings, proclaims no Saviour, and offers no salva- 
tion. You are "the righteous whom Christ 
never came to call." You are "the whole who 
need no physician." For what is it to God, 
that you are AS GOOD, or better, and more ami- 
able and estimable than others are, even than 
many professors of religion are, when God has 
pronounced his judgment, that "all have sin- 
ned, and come short of the glory of God," 
"that EVERY MOUTH may be stopped, and all 
the world may become guilty before God;" 
and that by his personal character, obedience, 
morality, or religion, "there shall NO flesh be 
justified in His sight." 



BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 35 



He is a most miserable professor who has no 
better foundation on which to build than his 
personal character, or holiness, or obedience. 
Verily he builds upon the sand, and when the 
floods arise, and the winds blow, all his vain 
hopes will perish. Christ, and his finished work 
of righteousness is the only foundation that is 
firm and everlasting. No goodness, or duties, 
or professions, or doings of ours, can make a 
balm that will cure the deadly plague of the 
soul. All the peace such hopes can give is like 
the plaster that covers the deep-seated cancer, 
which only favors its deadly growth and ag- 
gravates the malignity of the disease. Poor, 
miserable, outcast, guilty man can never weave 
a garment by all his efforts, that can hide his 
guilt and depravity from the scrutiny of Om- 
niscient Purity. Oh ! no, my dear reader, 
"unless your righteousness exceeds that of the 
Pharisees, (who certainly excelled all other men 
at that time in outward morality and religious 
devotion,) you cannot see the kingdom of God." 
You may be moral, honest, and devout ; you 
may pray, and read, and receive the sacrament, 
and yet be "poor, and miserable, and blind, 
and naked." For if it is true that this class 



86 BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 



of persons who appeared to be righteous before 
God, but who had no inward holiness — though 
they certainly had as good a hope as you have 
— " shall perish," where shall you, who flatter 
yourselves that you are as good as they were, 
where shall you find yourselves when death cuts 
off all further help, and oh! " how shall you 
escape the righteous judgment of God ?" 

Would you then, as a sinful creature, be 
saved, and have Christ and heaven as yours ? 
Then you must leave behind you your own 
righteousness — all your morality, holiness, du- 
ties, tears, repentings, convictions, desires and 
prayers, and bring to Christ nothing but your 
sins, wants and miseries, or else you do not 
come to Christ as a Saviour at all, but only in- 
sult and despise him. Christ, if yours at all, 
will be your entire and your only Redeemer, 
and must be received by you as a poor, guilty, 
helpless sinner — impenitent, unbelieving, un- 
feeling, hard-hearted, and ungodly — or else you 
do not understand who Christ is, what He is, 
what He has done, or why he became a Saviour 
at all. To believe in Christ is to be convinced 
that 3 r ou are a sinner, and that Christ is able and 
willing to save you as a sinner, and that He 



BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 87 



became a Saviour because all men were sinners, 
and because there is no other way in which any 
man could ever be " saved from his sins." To 
accept Christ's righteousness alone — to trust 
in Christ's blood alone — to confide in Christ's 
strength alone — to look for faith, and hope, 
and joy, and holiness, to Christ's grace alone — 
and to do all this only because God has so 
planned, and testified, and commanded, and 
promised ; — this is the sum of the Gospel — this 
is to make Christ a real Saviour — this is to 
" confess him and to believe on him with 
the heart." When you can see how God has 
provided for your soul, in Christ and his fin- 
ished work, " wisdom, and righteousness, and 
sanctification," and repentance, and hope, and 
peace, and comfort ; strength to persevere, to 
grow in grace, to keep the faith, and to finish 
your course, and to do all things through His 
strengthening grace ; — then hast thou found 
thy rest, oh ! thou wearied soul ; then art thou 
in the ark that wiH outride every tempest ; and 
then art thou safe in the arms of Omnipotent 
Mercy. 

All our unbelief, our fears, our doubts, and 
our want of feeling, of faith, and of confidence, 
3* 



38 BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 



arise from our self-righteousness and self-suffi- 
ciency, which keep us from Christ, and keep 
therefore our guilt and our guilty fears alive 
within us. Would that we could feel and prac- 
tically realize that Christ is our peace, and not 
duties ; that Christ and not tears of sorrow, is 
the source of our hope, our life, our pardon. 
Oh yes ! Christ is our true advocate with the 
Father, and not prayers ; and Christ alone, and 
not any efforts of ours, can secure reconcilia- 
tion, and life, and the remission of our sins. 

" God is love," infinite love. So much did 
" God love the world" as to devise the scheme 
of redemption in eternity, and perfect it in 
time. " He willeth not the death of the sin- 
ner." " He is not willing that any should per- 
ish, but that all should turn unto him and live." 
He has become reconciled unto the world, and 
is "now waiting and willing to be gracious." 
He has provided life for the dead ; for those 
that were dead in law, dead by condemnation, 
dead in depravity, dead in their own utter moral 
impotency, dead in their absolute inability of 
themselves to change their wills, their purposes, 
or their affections ; " dead in trespasses and 
sins." And this life is in God's dear Son, 
" hid with Christ in God." " Christ is the way, 



BELIEF WITH THE IIEAHT. 39 



the truth, and the life." " If any man believe 
in Him, though he were dead, yet shall he live." 
" The word is nigh thee," sinner, "even in 
thy mouth, and in thy heart : that is, the word 
of faith which we preach ; that if thou shall con- 
fess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt 
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him 
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with 
the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; 
and with the mouth confession is made unto 
salvation. For the Scripture saith, "Whosoever 
believeth on him shall not be ashamed." 

In all the Scriptures, therefore, there is not 
one hard word against a poor sinner, stripped 
of all self-righteousness, who casts himself for 
life, light, and peace, on the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Believe then but Christ's willingness, my dear 
reader, and Christ will "make you willing." 
If you cannot of yourself believe, remember 
that Christ is "the author of faith." If you 
feel no sense of pardon, remember that Christ 
"gives remission of sins," and secures the favor 
of the Father. If you do not feel as sorry 
for your sins as you should, forget not that 
Christ "giveth repentance also." Do you feel 
weak ? " He giveth power to the faint." Do 
you feel your faith feeble? "He increaseth 



40 BELIEF WITH THE HEAKT. 



strength." Are you full of infirmities ? " He 
is not an high-priest who cannot be touched 
with them, but one who was in all points tried 
as we are," that He might be able to feel to- 
wards us as brethren. Does your faith tremble 
and vacillate, like the reed shaken by the wind, 
or the taper dying in the socket ? " He will 
not break the bruised reed," nor quench the 
dimly burning taper, but will sustain and revive 
them. He "works in the heart to will and to 
do." "By grace, then," sinner, "thou art 
saved, through faith, and that not of yourself, 
it is the gift of God." 

sinner, wilt thou not then believe, and 
trust, and "commit thy soul to Christ," sick, 
blind, unbelieving, hard, unfeeling as it is, and 
plead with Him for the fulfillment of His own 
gracious word ? What is your unbelief ? Why, 
it is making your guilt greater than Christ's 
righteousness, your case beyond Christ's rem- 
edy, your darkness beyond Christ's power to 
enlighten, and your wants beyond Christ's abil- 
ity or willingness to supply. Thus do you un- 
dervalue Christ, reject His righteousness, deny 
His truth, and affirm that His blood does not 
" cleanse from all sin." 

Oh yes ! unbelief hardens your heart, blinds 



BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 41 



your eyes, shuts your ears, sears your con- 
science, and keeps your soul closed to that pre- 
vious, priceless Saviour who stands at the door 
and knocks, seeking for admittance. Were 
but this veil withdrawn, you would at once be 
filled with rapture in view of the freeness, ful- 
ness and all-sufficiency of the grace of Christ ; 
find though you see Him not with your bodily 
eyes, yet believing on Him, you would rejoice 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Let 
me give you an illustration of this as presented 
by another, who has, in the case described, only 
portrayed a scene which is every day verified 
in the experience of new-born souls. 

It was a time of the outpouring of the 
Spirit in a Female Seminary. From day to 
day, and week to week, young voices were learn- 
ing the first notes of that new song which ever- 
more ascends from the whole family of the re- 
deemed. There were others, too, whose coun- 
tenances betrayed the anguish of hearts aroused 
to a sense of God's claims, and yet unreconciled 
to Him. 

Among the latter class was one whose case 
had excited special interest. She was soon to 
leave the seminary, and with her talents and 



42 BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 



energy must exert a powerful influence over 
those among whom her lot should be cast. 
Would it be for good or evil ? She was now 
deeply convinced of her guilt and danger ; but 
there were some who remembered with sorrow 
that in earlier years she had seemed not less 
powerfully awakened, and yet remained out of 
Christ. 

Week after week went by, but Ellen found 
no peace. She was outwardly calm, but it 
seemed like the calmness of despair. Whether 
in the recitation-room, at table, or in the unre- 
strained freedom of social converse, a single 
glance at her countenance revealed to the most 
casual observer the settled gloom of the soul. 
Many a heart ached in view of her anguish, and 
many a prayer was sent up to heaven in her 
behalf. One after another her teachers and 
schoolmates sought opportunities of conversa- 
tion with her, on the great subject which en- 
grossed her thoughts. While she was frank 
and unreserved in communicating her feelings, 
and listened attentively to those who tried to 
explain to her the way of salvation, there was 
still a difficulty which none could remove. 
" It is of no use," she would say. " All this 



BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 43 



Las been explained to me over and over, as 
learly as it could be. But there is something 
n the way ; I cannot come to the Saviour, and 
[ fear I never shall." 

"Ah, we cannot help her!" sighed her 
riends, as some of them reviewed together 
,heir fruitless efforts, " We can only commend 
ler to God. Let us pray for her." 

At length there was a change, as we trust, 
;he great change by which sinners are new- 
born. Peace was now as visible in Ellen's 
countenance as distress had been before. 

" Oh ! what a wonderful way of salvation !" 
was the utterance of her heart. " How simple, 
how beautiful, how glorious ! Why did I not 
come to Christ before ? That mysterious hin- 
derance which seemed to be in my way was 

NOTHING- BUT UNBELIEF." 

Truly, it was " nothing but unbelief." And 
now, " being justified by faith," Ellen had 
"peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ." And thus is it with you. It is " nothing 
but unbelief," anxious reader, which keeps you 
from Christ to-day. It is that same unbelief 
which, if not abandoned, will finally shut you 
out of heaven. Ah ! unbelief is a fearful thing 



44 BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 



— a wall between your soul and Christ — a 
weight to sink you in the burning lake forever. 
There is, believe me, no other heart's ease, 
no other way of peace and assurance for any 
man, than to glorify Christ by confiding in His 
power, promises, and gracious loving kindness. 
Art thou persuaded of this ? Then what diffi- 
culties or distracting fears can cloud thy hopes? 
Art thou in any doubt on this point — then tarry 
here. Look not forward nor backward, neither 
to the right nor to the left, neither to heaven 
nor to hell. Look only to Christ's own word ; 
to His promises, invitations, provisions, and 
merciful rebukes of thy faithless and unbeliev- 
ing heart. Look only to Himself; cast thyself 
at His feet, like Mary ; or throw thyself into 
His arms, and there plead until He give thee 
power and faith to believe. Tell Him you be- 
lieve, but so doubtingly that He must "help 
your unbelief." Tell Him you love Him, but 
so feebly you .are afraid you do not love Him 
at all, and ask Him to let his love " constrain 
you." Implore Him to shed abroad his love 
in your soul by the Holy Ghost as to fill you 
with love to Him. Can you fail to be heard 
and to be helped ! Is His arm shortened, or 



BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 45 



His ear heavy? Oh, no. "Why, then, art 
thou cast down, oh fearful soul ? Why art thou 
disquieted within thee ? Hope in God, for thou 
shalt yet praise Him. Wait on the Lord, and 
he will be the light of thy countenance and the 
strength of thine heart." In this "acceptable 
time" cry mightily unto Him who can quicken 
thy dead heart, and make thee alive unto God, 
a new creature, 

" Born "by a new celestial birth." 

Do this, and thou shalt yet be able to say, " He 
brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out 
of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, 
and established my goings. And He hath put 
a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our 
God. Many shall see it and fear, and shall 
trust in the Lord." 



Power from on high, God, impart 
Power in thy gospel to believe ; 

Power Christ to love with all my heart) 
Power even as a son of God to live. 

Thy Word to me in vain is given, 
I hear, I read, I learn in vain j 

In vain thy Son came down from heaven, 
If thon " the Spirit's might" restrain. 

4 



4® BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 



Now be His sacred influence felt, 

With searching, cleansing, quickening force, 
Till this hard heart in sorrow melt, 

And tears of penitence flow forth. 

Convinced and humbled in the dust, 

Beneath the burden of my guilt, 
I own thy law's dread sentence just, 

But plead the blood of pardon spilt 

Thy Spirit witness with that blood, 

And Christ my Saviour glorify j 
Till as a new-born child of God, 

I can with rapture, " Father!" cry. 



"MY SON, GIVE ME THINE HEART." 

Prov. xxiii. 1: 

Here is my heart U — my God, I give it thee ; 

I heard thee call and say, 
N Not to the world, my child, but unto ME ;" 
I heard and will obey. 
Here is love's offering to my King, 
Which, a glad sacrifice, I bring,—* 
Here is my heart. 

Here is my heart! — surely the gift, though poo: 

My God will not despise ; 
Vainly and long I sought to make it pure. 
To meet thy searching eyes ; 
Corrupted first in Adam's fall, 
The stains of sin pollute it all, — 
My guilty heart ! 



BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 47 



Here is my heart ! — my heart so hard before-, 

Now by thy grace made meet; 
Yet bruised and wearied, it can only pour 
Its anguish at thy feet; 
It groans beneath the weight of sin, 
It sighs salvation's joy to win, — 
My mourning faeart ! 

Here is my heart ! — in Christ its longings end, 

Near to his Cross it draws; 

It says, " Thou art my portion, my Friend, 

Thy blood my ransom was." 

And in the Saviour it has found 

What blessedness and peace abound, — 

My trusting heart 1 

Here is my heart 1 — ah ! Holy Spirit, come, 

Its nature to renew, 
And consecrate it wholly as thy home, 
A temple fair and true. 
Teach it to love and serve thee more, 
To fear thee, trust thee, and adore, — 
My cleansed heart ! 

Here is my heart ! — it trembles to draw near 

The glory of Thy throne; 
Give it the shining robe Thy servants wear, 
Of righteousness Thine own : 
Its pride and folly chase away, 
And all its vanity, I pray, — 
My humbled heart ! 

Here is my heart ! — teach it, Lord, to cling 
In gladness unto thee; 



48 BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 



And in the day of sorrow still to sing, 
" Welcome, my God's decree." 
Believing, all its journey through, 
That thou art wise, and just, and true, — 
My waiting heart ! 

Here is my heart ! — Friend of friends, be near ? 

To make each tempter fly ; 
And when my latest foe I wait with fear, 
Give me the victory ! 
Gladly on thy love reposing, 
Let me say, when life is closing, — 
Here is my heart ! 

♦ 

JUST AS THOU ART. 
Just as thou art — without one trace 
Of love, or joy, or inward grace, 
Or meetness for the heavenly place, 
guilty sinner, come. 

Thy sins I bore on Calvary's tree ; 
The stripes, thy due, were laid on Me, 
That peace and pardon might be free — 
wretched sinner, come. 

Burdened with guilt, wouldst thou be blest ? 
Trust not the world — it gives no rest : 
I bring relief to hearts opprest — 
weary sinner, come. 

Come, leave thy burden at the cross; 
Count all, thy gains but empty dross : 
My grace repays all earthly loss — 
needy sinner, come. 



BELIEF WITH THE HEART. 49 



Come, hither, bring thy boding fears, 

Thy aching heart, thy bursting tears ; 

'Tis mercy's voice salutes thine ears ; 

O trembling sinner, come. 

u The Spirit and the Bride say, Come ;" 
Rejoicing saints re-echo, Come : 
Who faints, who thirsts, who will, may come : 
Thy Saviour bids thee come. 



4& 



CHAPTER IV. 

WHAT IT IS TO BELIEVE, FURTHER EXPLAINED 
AND URGED. 

I have already, my dear reader, reasoned 
with you upon this subject, and endeavored to 
show what is implied in believing on Christ. 

Still, however, you hesitate, and doubt, and 
fear to cast yourself upon the Saviour, and to 
look to Him for faith, and hope, and pardon, 
and acceptance, and the full assurance of hope, 
and peace, and joy. The legal spirit of the 
natural heart still leads you to imagine that 
you must be better, and feel better, and have 
a far deeper conviction of sin and love to 
Christ, before you can feel warranted in re- 
posing upon Him, as " made unto you of God, 
wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification 
and redemption." 

Let me, then, again show you what it is to 
believe on Christ, and, in doing so, I will em- 
ploy the following illustration : 



THE ONLY WAY TO BE SAVED. 51 



It was a dark night : a high wind was blow- 
ing without, while all the family of Mr. H. 
were lying quietly in their beds, breathing 
calmly in the soundest slumbers. 

All at once Mr. H. was aroused by the ter- 
rible cry of fire. He was not sufficiently 
waked, at first, to understand the cause ; but 
the sound grew nearer and nearer, and soon 
many were gathering under the window. 
"Fire! fire! your house is on fire!" they 
shouted as they pounded heavily upon the 
doors. Throwing a few clothes around him, 
Mr. H. rushed to the door ; and what was his 
surprise and fear to discover that his own 
dwelling was in flames ! He hastily returned, 
called up his terrified wife, and taking the 
babe and the next older child, they quickly 
sought shelter in an adjoining house. His old- 
est son, about ten years of age, slept in a 
chamber in another part of the house, near the 
room of the servant maid who lived in the 
family. 

Immediately the father hastened to rescue 
him, feeling but little anxiety for his property, 
if his family only might all be saved. On his 
way he met the maid: "Where is Charles?" 
said Mr. H., surprised to see her alone. 



52 BELIEF IN CHRIST 



" Crying in his room," answered the fright- 
ened girl. " I but just escaped, and the stairs 
are now all in flames." 

The fire had broken out in that part of the 
house, and the flames were now spreading with 
fearful rapidity. Almost distracted, Mr. H. 
rushed out, and hastened to the part of the 
house beneath the window of his son's sleeping- 
room. 

The window was thrown up. The terrified 
boy was standing there crying out in agony, 
" Father ! father ! how shall I get out V! 

He could be seen by the glare of the fire in 
the room ; but he could see no one beneath 
him — it was so dark — although he heard many 
voices. 

" Here I am, my son," cried out the deeply- 
moved father; "here I am; fear not. Lay 
hold of the sill of the window, and drop your- 
self down. I will certainly catch you." 

Charles crept out of the window, and cling- 
ing with the grasp of a drowning person, he 
hung trembling, and afraid to let go. 

" Let go, my son," cried the father. 

".I can't see you father." 

"But I am here, my son." 

"I'm afraid, father, that I shall fall." 



THE ONLY WAY TO BE SAVED. 53 



"Let go; you need not fear," again shouted 
the father. The flames began to approach the 
window — the casement grew hot — if he stayed 
there he would be burned. He recollected that 
his father was strong ; that he loved him, and 
would not tell him to do any thing that would 
injure him. He drew in his breath, unclapsed 
his fingers, and in a moment was in his father's 
arms, overpowered, and weeping for joy at his 
wonderful escape. 

Now, here was an act of simple faith, that is 
of absolute trust and confidence, in the ability 
and willingness of his father. But let us en- 
deavor to analyze it. Why, then, let me ask, 
was it necessary that the boy should make such 
an adventurous fall ? Because he was in dan- 
ger of certain death, and there was no way of 
escape but by the window. Why, then, did he 
not at once cast himself out of the window ? 
Because he knew that if he did so, depending 
on his own strength, he would be crushed and 
broken. Why, then, did his father hasten to 
stand under him, and receive him when he fell ? 
Because he so loved him as to be willing to 
run the risk of his own injury. Why did the 
father encourage and recommend his boy to let 



54 BELIEF IN CHRIST 



go ? Because he knew that he was able to 
hold him up when he fell, and because there 
was no time to lose, seeing that death might 
seize on the child at any moment, or the walls 
fall in and crush them both. And why did the 
boy finally drop, although he could not see his 
father's arms at all ? Because he believed that 
his father was able to receive him ; that his 
father saw him ; and that his father would not 
fail of his promises. 

Now, just such, my dear reader, is faith as 
it regards the salvation of your soul. You are 
now in most certain danger of everlasting 
death, because of your ungodliness and sin. 
The flames of vengeance burn around you. 
But Christ has secured redemption and ever- 
lasting life ; and God, our Father in heaven, 
has so loved us as to covenant and engage that 
whosoever believeth in Christ shall be saved. 
Neither can you be saved in any other way, for 
out of Christ " our God is a consuming fire." 
By no efforts of yours, therefore, can you escape 
from Him "who is able to destroy both soul 
and body in hell" for ever. You cannot atone 
for past sins. There they are, and they cry 
aloud for vengeance. You are already con- 



THE ONLY WAY TO BE SAVED. 55 



dernned, and for aught you know, sentence 
may be passed upon you at any moment, and 
then " eternal destruction from the presence 
of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, " 
awaits you in that "lake which burneth with 
fire and brimstone, where the worm dieth not 
and the fire is not quenched." 

Christ, however, is able to save you, because 
he is God as well as man. Suppose the boy 
suspended by his feeble hands had seen another 
little boy like himself stretch his weak arms 5 
and call upon him to trust to him for deliver- 
ance* He would have cried out at once, "You 
cannot save me." Just so the convicted sinner 
feels, when invited to put his trust in a man 
like himself, or in any one short of an almighty 
Saviour. "A mere human deliverer !" he ex- 
claims—" Do you mean to mock me ? What 
can such a deliverer do for a wretch like me ? 
What can he do with those mountains of guilt 
which are pressing upon me, and with that 
deathless worm which is gnawing within me ? 
What can he do to avert the dreadful sentence 
of the law which hangs over me, or to quench the 
devouring flames which are kindled to consume 
me?" The convinced sinner feels that he 



56 BELIEF IN CHRIST 



needs a Divine Saviour — an Almighty Saviour 
— a living, loving, personal, ever and every- 
where present, and sympathizing Saviour, — 
One who is able to "save to the uttermost" — 
One whose " blood cleanseth from all sin." He 
feels that no other Saviour can meet the fear- 
ful exigencies of his case, or can ever do him 
any good. And when he looks into the Bible, 
he finds that just such a Saviour is provided 
and freely offered. Here he finds that the 
Lord Jesus Christ is a holy Saviour, whose 
word is truth — a glorious Saviour, altogether 
deserving his confidence and love, — "the great 
God and our Saviour" — " God manifest in the 
flesh" — one who "is God" — yea, whose "name 
is Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the 
everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace." 

When, therefore, with eye of faith he sees 
this Saviour — who is "mighty to save," — 
standing beneath, extending His Omnipotent 
arms to receive him, and calling out to him to let 
go all his false dependences and hopes ; what 
should prevent him from doing it — from simply 
putting forth the act of faith, and falling into the 
kind and gracious arms of his Almighty Deli- 
verer ? He obviously has all the knowledge 



THE ONLY WAY TO BE SAVED. 57 



and conviction that are necessary, and he has 
only now to believe in Christ, to trust to Him, 
to fall into his embrace, and live for ever. 

yes ! when we find that Christ is the only 
Saviour known to the Bible, — that salvation or 
damnation are dependent on our belief or re- 
jection of Him, — that God everywhere refers 
us for salvation and eternal life to Him, — that 
He is made the object of supreme love and 
honor, and the centre of worship, in heaven and 
on earth, — and that faith in Christ, trust in 
Christ, coming to Christ, living in Christ, fol- 
lowing Christ, and glorying in Christ, are the 
essential elements of all Christian experience, 
— how can any reasonable man question whe- 
ther Christ is, as the apostle John says he is, 
"The true God, and eternal life, and able 
therefore to save to the uttermost all who put 
their trust in Him?" 

We can easily imagine a host of excuses 
which this little boy might have offered ; but 
we also know, and you will admit, that they 
would all have been false and vain, and that 
he had every warrant and encouragement to 
act as he was required. We know, too, that 
in no other way could the child have been 
5 



58 THE DETERMINATION. 



saved at all, and that if he had remained fear- 
ful, and hesitating, and halting, he would cer- 
tainly have been lost. Now just so is it, 
sinner ! with you. You can frame a hundred 
excuses ; but they are all false, and without 
any foundation ; and if you do not break 
through them all, and at once and for ever, 
and entirely yield yourself to Christ, casting 
your soul on him and committing it to His 
hands, you must perish. 

SINNER RESOLVING TO GO TO CHRIST. 
Esth. iv. 16. 
Come, humble sinner, in whose breast 

A thousand thoughts revolve ; 
Come with your guilt and fear oppress'd 
And make this last resolve : — 

"I'll go to Jesus, though my sin 

Hath like a mountain rose ; 
I know his courts, I'll enter in, 

Whatever may oppose. 

Prostrate I'll lie before his throne, 

And there my guilt confess ; 
I'll tell him I'm a wretch undone, 

Without his sovereign grace. 

I'll to the gracious King approach, 

Whose sceptre pardon gives ; 
Perhaps he may command my touch — 

And then the suppliant lives. 

Perhaps he will admit my plea, 

Perhaps will hear my prayer ; 
But if I perish, I will pray, 

And perish only there. 

I can but perish if I go, 

I am resolv'd to try ; 
For if I stay away, I know, 

I must for ever die." 



CHAPTER V. 
GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 

Man is so constituted, that in order to fix 
and deepen his thoughts, they must be spoken 
or written. Language and letters are intended 
to be means of expressing, and of giving stabil- 
ity, to the thoughts and feelings of the soul. 
When they really do so, the man is sincere and 
truthful, but when not, he is deceitful and hy- 
pocritical. Where more than one person is 
concerned, reliance is put upon words and 
writing, in proportion as there is mutual confi- 
dence, but in all matters of importance, "to put 
an end to strife," and to impart unwavering as- 
surance, an oath or written engagement is given. 
This is the foundation of all business transac- 
tions among men. This, also, is the case in the 
formation of all partnerships and associations. 
Even as individuals, we never enter upon any im- 
portant transaction without deep reflection and 
very careful decision. This ought to be the 



60 GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 



case, and every such determination ought to 
be made after seeking the guidance and bless- 
ing of God. " In all thy ways acknowledge 
Him, and He will direct thy steps." 

Were you, for instance, — that I may use an 
illustration to which in Scripture the consecra- 
tion of the soul to Christ is compared — solicited, 
and did you feel it to be your duty, to marry, 
how carefully would you weigh every conside- 
ration bearing on the eventful issue. How 
often would you retire within yourself, and in 
view of all the possible results of your decision, 
earnestly importune that " wisdom that cometh 
from above, and which is profitable to direct.' ' 
Having done this, you would then, probably, set 
your seal to a written engagement, or otherwise 
express your assent. This would afterwards be 
ratified by a solemn public contract in the pre- 
sence of God, and probably of many witnesses 
assembled on the occasion, your hymeneal 
torch be lighted at God's altar, and your heart 
be there plighted in faith to the partner of 
your bosom. 

Now, so it is in your relation to God. To Him 
also, thoughts and feelings are expressed by 
words or writing. In this way they are also 
deepened and confirmed. And as God requires 



GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 61 



you to "give Him your heart/' and to "vow 
unto the Lord/' and "pay your vow," you 
cannot hesitate about either the obligation or 
the expediency of doing so. Only let your 
heart, and your lips, and your pen agree. Let 
what you say or write be what is " written on 
the fleshy table of your heart/' and you cannot 
fail to derive from a solemn consecration, 
important and lasting benefit. 

Let me then beseech you to join me, even 
now, in making a surrender of yourself to God 
in Christ. Come with me into God's presence, as 
"in Christ he is reconciling sinners to himself," 
and dedicate yourself to Him, saying, 

Eternal and unchangeable Jehovah ! Thou 
great Creator of heaven and earth ! and ador- 
able Lord of angels and men, I desire, with the 
deepest humiliation and abasement of soul, to 
fall down at this time in thine awful presence, 
and earnestly pray that thou wilt penetrate my 
very heart and soul with a suitable sense of 
thine unutterable and inconceivable glories ! 
Trembling may justly lay hold upon me, when 
I, a sinful worm, presume to lift up my head to 
Thee, presume to appear in thy majestic pres- 
ence on such an occasion as this. 
5* 



62 GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 



Who am I, Lord God, or what is my 
house ? What is my nature or descent, my 
character and desert, that I should speak of 
this, and desire that I may be one party in a 
covenant, where thou, the King of kings and 
Lord of lords, art the other. I blush and am 
confounded, even to mention it before thee. 
But, Lord, great as is thy majesty, so also 
is thy mercy. If thou wilt hold converse with 
any of thy creatures, thy superlatively exalted 
nature must stoop, must stoop infinitely low ; 
and I know that in and through Jesus the Son 
of thy love, thou condescendest to visit sinful 
mortals, and to allow their approach to thee, 
and their covenant intercourse with thee. Nay, 
I know that the scheme and plan is thine own, 
and that thou hast graciously sent to propose 
it to us ; as none untaught by thee would have 
been able to form it, or inclined to embrace it, 
even wdien actually proposed. To thee, there- 
fore, do I now come, invited by the name of 
thy Son, and trusting in His righteousness and 
grace ; laying myself at thy feet with shame 
and confusion of face, and smiting upon my 
breast, I say with the humble publican, ' God 
be merciful to me a sinner.' I acknowledge, 
Lord, I have been a great transgressor. My 



GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 63 



sins have reached unto heaven, and mine 
iniquities are lifted up unto the skies. The ir- 
regular propensities of my corrupt and degen- 
erate nature have, in ten thousand aggravated 
instances, wrought to bring forth fruit unto 
death. And if thou shouldst be strict to mark 
mine offences, I must be silent under a load of 
guilt, and immediately sink into destruction. 
But thou hast graciously called me to return 
unto thee, though I have been a wandering 
sheep, a prodigal son, a backsliding child. Be- 
hold, therefore, Lord, I come unto thee. I 
come, convinced not only of my sin, but of my 
folly. I come, from my very heart ashamed 
of myself, and with sincerity and humility con- 
fess that I have erred exceedingly. I am con- 
founded with the remembrance of these things ; 
but be thou merciful to my unrighteousness, 
and do not remember against me my sins and 
my transgressions. Permit me, Lord, to 
bring back unto thee those powers and faculties, 
which I have ungratefully and sacrilegiously 
alienated from thy service, and receive, I be- 
seech thee, thy poor perverted creature, who is 
now convinced of the right thou hast to him, 
and desires nothing in the whole earth so much 



64 GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 



as to be truly thine ! Blessed God ! it is with 
the utmost solemnity that I make this surren- 
der of myself to thee. Hear, heavens ! and 
give ear, earth ! I acknowledge the Lord 
to be my God. I solemnly declare myself 
this day to be one of his covenant people. 
Hear, thou God of heaven ! and record it 
in the book of thy remembrance, that hence- 
forth I am thine, entirely thine. I would 
not merely consecrate unto thee some of my 
powers, or some of my possessions, or give 
thee a certain proportion of my services, or 
all I am capable of for a limited time ; but 
I would be wholly thine, and thine forever. 
From this day do I solemnly renounce all the 
former lords which have had dominion over me 
— every sin and every lust, and bid in thy name 
an eternal defiance to the powers of hell, which 
have most unjustly usurped the empire over my 
soul, and to all the corruptions which their fatal 
temptations have introduced into it. The whole 
frame of my nature, all the faculties of my 
mind, all the members of my body, would I 
present before thee this day, as a living sacri- 
fice, holy and acceptable unto God, which I 
know to be my most reasonable service. To 
thee I consecrate all my worldly possessions. 



GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 65 



In thy service I desire to spend all the remain- 
der of my time upon earth, and beg Thou 
wouldst instruct and influence me, so that, 
whether my abode here be longer or shorter, 
every year and month, day and hour, may be 
used in such a manner as shall most effectually 
promote Thine honor, and subserve the scheme 
of Thy wise and gracious providence ; and I 
earnestly pray, that whatever influence Thou 
givest me over others, in any of the relations 
of life in which I may stand, or in consequence 
of any peculiar regard which might be paid me, 
Thou wouldst give me strength and courage to 
exert myself to the utmost for Thy glory, re- 
solving, not only that I will do it myself, but 
that all others, so far as I can rationally and 
properly influence them, shall serve the Lord. 
In this course, blessed God ! would I steadily 
persevere to the end of my life, earnestly pray- 
ing, that every future day of it may supply the 
deficiencies and correct the irregularities of the 
former, and that I may, by Divine grace, be 
enabled not only to hold on in that happy way, 
but daily to grow more active in it. 

Nor do I only consecrate all that I am and 
have to thy service, but I also most humbly re- 
sign and submit to thy heavenly will, myself 



66 GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 



and all that I can call mine. I leave, Lord, 
to thy management and direction all that I 
possess and all I wish; and set every enjoyment 
and every interest before Thee, to be disposed 
of as Thou pleasest. Continue, or remove what 
Thou hast given me ; bestow or refuse, what I 
imagine I want, as thou, Lord, shalt see good ; 
and though I dare not say I will never repine, 
yet I hope I may venture to say, that I will 
labor not only to submit but to acquiesce ; not 
only to bear what thou doest in thy most afflic- 
tive dispensations : but to consent to it, and to 
praise thee for it, contentedly resolving, in all 
that thou appointest, my will into thine, and 
looking on myself as nothing, and on thee, 
God ! as the great eternal all, whose word ought 
to determine every thing, and whose govern- 
ment ought to be the joy of the whole rational 
creation. 

Use me, Lord, I beseech thee, as the 
instrument of thy glory, and honor me so far, 
as either by doing or suffering what thou shalt 
appoint, to bring some revenue of praise to 
thee, and of benefit to the world in which I 
dwell ; and may it please thee, my Creator ! 
from this day forward, to number me among 



GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 67 



thy peculiar people, that I may no more be a 
stranger and foreigner, but a fellow-citizen with 
the saints, and of the household of God. Re- 
ceive, heavenly Father ! thy returning prodi- 
gal. Wash me in the blood of thy dear Son ; 
clothe me in robes made white in the blood of 
the Lamb, and sanctify me throughout by the 
power of thy Spirit ! Destroy, I beseech thee, 
more and more the power of sin in my heart ! 
Transform me more and more into thine own 
image, and fashion me to the resemblance of 
Jesus, whom henceforward I would acknowledge 
as my teacher, my sacrifice, my intercessor, and 
my Lord ! Communicate to me, I beseech thee, 
all needful influences of thy purifying, cheer- 
ing, and comforting Spirit; and lift up the 
light of thy countenance upon me, which will 
put the sublimest joy and gladness into my soul. 
Dispose my affairs, God ! in a manner 
which may be subservient to thy glory and my 
own truest happiness ; and when I have done and 
borne thy will upon earth, call me from hence 
at what time, and in what manner thou pleas- 
est ; only grant that in my dying moments, and 
the near view of eternity, I may remember 
these my engagements to thee, and may employ 



68 GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 






my latest breath in thy service ; and do thou, 

Lord, when thou seest the agonies of dissolv- 
ing nature upon me, remember this covenant 
too, even though I should then be incapable of 
recollecting it. Look down, my heavenly 
Father, with a pitying eye, upon thy languish- 
ing, dying child : place thine everlasting arms 
underneath me for my support; put strength 
and confidence into my departing spirit ; and 
receive it to the embraces of thy everlasting 
love ! Welcome it to the abodes of them that 
sleep in Jesus ; to wait with them that glorious 
day, when the last of thy promises to thy cov- 
enant people shall be fulfilled in their trium- 
phant resurrection, and that abundant entrance, 
which shall be administered to them into thine 
everlasting kingdom, of which thou hast assured 
them in thy covenant, and in the hope of which 

1 now lay hold of it, desiring to live and to die 
as with my hand on that hope ! 

And when I am thus numbered among the 
dead, and all the interests of mortality are over 
with me forever, if this solemn memorial should 
chance to foil into the hands of any surviving 
friends, may it be the means of making serious 
impressions on their mind. May they read it 



GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 69 



not only as my language, but as their own ; and 
learn to fear the Lord my God, and with me to 
put their trust under the shadow of his wings 
for time and for eternity ; and may they also 
learn to adore with me that grace which inclines 
my heart to enter into the covenant, and con- 
descends to admit me into it, when so inclined ; 
ascribing with me and with all the children of 
God, to the Father, to the Son, and to the 
Holy Ghost, that glory, honor and praise which 
is so justly due to each for the part He bears in 
this illustrious work. Amen. 

11 Lord, I am thine, forever thine. 

My soul doth cleave to thee ; 
My dearest Lord, be ever mine, 

I have no love but thee. 

Henceforth I am not mine, but God's for- 



"JUST AS I AM. 7; 

Just as I am — without one plea 
But that thy blood was shed for me, 
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, 
Lamb of God, I come. 

* This was the form used by Mrs. Ramsay, of Charleston, 
South Carolina. See her most valuable Life, published 
by the American Sunday-School Union, p. 27, &c. 

6 



70 GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 



Just as I am — and waiting not 
To rid my soul of one dark spot — 
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each blot, 
Lamb of God, I come. 

Just as I am — tho' toss'd about, 
With many a conflict, many a doubt, 
Fightings within, and fears without, 
Lamb of God, I come. 

Just as I am — poor, wretched, blind ; 
Sight, riches, healing of the mind, 
Yea, all I need in Thee to find — 
Lamb of God, I come. 

Just as I am — Thou wilt receive, 
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, 
Because Thy promise I believe, 
Lamb of God, I come. 

Just as I am — Thy love I own 
Has broken every barrier down : 
Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, 
Lamb of God, I come. 



" I LAY MY SINS ON JESUS." 

I lay my sins on Jesus, 

The spotless Lamb of God ; 
He bears them all, and frees us 

From the accursed load. 
I bring my guilt to Jesus, 

To wash my crimson stains 
White in His blood most precious, 

Till not a spot remains. 



GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 71 



I lay my wants on Jesus, 

All fullness dwells in Him ; 
He heals all my diseases, 

He doth my soul redeem. 
I lay my griefs on Jesus, 

My burdens and my cares ; 
He from them all releases, — 

He all my sorrows shares. 

I rest my soul on Jesus, — 

This weary soul of mine ; 
His right hand me embraces, 

I on His breast recline. 
I love the name of Jesus, 

Immanuel, Christ, the Lord ; 
Like fragrance on the breezes, 

His name is poured abroad. 

I long to be like Jesus — 

Meek, loving, lowly, mild ; 
I long to be like Jesus, 

The Father's only child ; 
I long to be with Jesus, 

Amid the heavenly throng, 
To sing, with saints, His praises, 

To learn the angels' song. 



THE CONSECRATION. 

Upon thine altar, Lord, I lay 
My poor, my only sacrifice ; 

Thou wilt not turn thy face away, 
Wilt not a broken heart despise. 



72 GIVE YOURSELF UNTO THE LORD. 



Though hard as stone, cold as the clod, 
Break, for thy tender mercies' sake, 

— Not with the vengeance of thy rod, — 
But by thy loving-kindness, break. 

Break it, and bind it, wound and heal, 
Yea, kill to make alive again ; 

Impress it with Thy Spirit's seal, — 
The sacrifice were perfect then. 

Perfect, yet all unworthy still ; 

But while in Jesus I believe, 
Who came on earth to do Thy will, 

From His dear hands my gift receive. 

Receive it, with His blood bedew'd, 
Receive it, offer'd with His prayers ; 

And, in Thine image thus renew'd, 
Enroll me with Thy kingdom's heirs. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOUL ENCOUR- 
AGED TO MAKE AN OPEN CONFESSION. 

And now, my dear reader, have you gone 
with me in this surrender of yourself to God, 
and are you now no longer your own, but 
" His to whom you have now yielded yourself 
as His servant to obey Him?" If so, and 
you are willingly, devotedly, and heartily "the 
Lord's," then confess that you are so before 
men. 

Do not conceal your feelings. Put on a 
manly courage. Act as you would in every 
other case. Avail yourself of the principles 
of your nature already explained, and of the 
sympathy, experience, and prayers of others, 
or at least of some one judicious Christian 
friend. Do not imagine they are uninterested 
in you, because they have not spoken to you. 
They may be even now earnestly wrestling 
with God in prayer for you, and " travailing 
6* 



74 THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOUL 



in pain," until you are born again, and yet 
afraid to speak to you, lest they should " speak 
unadvisedly with their lips" before you. You 
will find any true Christian bosom thrill with 
tender and joyful emotions in the knowledge 
of your hopeful change of feeling, and of your 
heavenly desires. Their hearts will melt be- 
fore you. Tears of thankfulness will bedew 
their cheeks, and there will be joy, not only 
among the angels of God, but also among the 
saints on earth. An electric spark will be 
communicated to your own soul. The fire will 
burn, and you will thank God for that commu- 
nion of hearts which can bring with it such 
overflowing peace. 

Be not afraid, therefore, only fear of fear. 
Be not ashamed, except of that sinful shame 
which would hinder you from doing what you 
know to be right, and your duty, and for your 
happiness. The only difficulty is to make the 
first approach. All after that, will be easy, 
pleasant, and profitable. This you can make by 
letter, if, as is best, you cannot do it by perso- 
nal communication. But in one or other way 
do it. I beseech you to do so, let the effort be 
w r hat it may. Be master of yourself. " Quit 



ENCOURAGED TO CONFESS. 75 



yourself like a man, and be strong," and let no 
cowardly timidity restrain you. Never did I 
see a happier man than one who was certainly 
the most timid and reserved, I ever knew. I 
perceived in him some evidence of being 
thoughtful, and sought a private and suitable 
opportunity to converse with him. He had been 
most anxious that I should, and yet he found 
it impossible to introduce the subject. But it 
was to him like the opening of a spring. The 
waters that were welled up within the adaman- 
tine walls, burst forth. He w r as relieved of 
agonizing pressure. He was guided and help- 
ed forward, and soon found peace and joy in 
believing. Very lately, also, I sought an opportu- 
nity to " speak to a young man" of a very similar 
temperament. I invited him to ride with me, 
and after introducing the subject of religion, 
found him so eager to converse, that after ap- 
proaching his home, we remained some time in 
earnest communication, and w T hen I told him 
his dinner hour was past, "Oh," said he, 
" that is of no consequence, I could listen all 
day to what you have to say." 

But oh, how inexpressible is the delight of a 
faithful pastor's bosom, when any of his flock 



76 THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOUL 



— of the sheep or lambs he is to feed — come 
to him, and in the confidence of love and re- 
spect, open np to him their feelings, and seek 
his counsel and prayers. It is like a burst of 
sunshine on a stormy day. He can lift up his 
eyes to heaven and say, "I thank Thee, 
Father in heayen, that whilst these things are hid 
from so many of the wise and prudent, Thou 
hast revealed them unto these." 

During the past winter, I was gratified by 
several such visits, from young persons of 
both sexes. One day I was busy sermon- 
izing, when a visitor — a young gentleman 
in large business — was announced. He was 
introduced. I was unnerved at his pre- 
sence. He had been for years altogether 
a man of the wwld, and very careless about 
the Sabbath and the sanctuary. I had ven- 
tured to talk with him a few days previously, 
sitting on a box of goods in his store, but had 
no hope of any immediate religious feelings. 
He had intended leaving the city on a collect- 
ing tour, the morning after I saw him, but w T as 
very unexpectedly, that is, providentially, hin- 
dered. Strange feelings came over him. He 
knew not what to make of them, or why they 



ENCOURAGED TO CONFESS. 77 



should be felt. Thoughts of a departed father, 
who had been very pious, haunted even his 
dreams, and seemed to call him to repent and 
pray, and change his course of living. He 
tried to read the Bible, but could not. He 
went down on his knees to pray, but knew not 
how, and thought it was only mockery. He 
thought he would come and see me, and was 
on his way, when Satan led him to think he 
was making a fool of himself, and that these 
feelings would soon subside. He turned back 
and busied himself in his store. But he could 
not get rid of his feelings, and finally he had 
come to see me and make known to me these 
facts. " And now," said he, "I wish you to 
tell me just what you think I ought to do." 
We talked long together, as we have since. I 
gave him a book to read, made prayer with 
him, and we separated, both full, I trust, of joy 
imparted by the Holy Ghost, for there is every 
reason to hope he was "led," like the Ethio- 
pian eunuch, " by the Spirit," and will become 
an active and devoted Christian. 

Let me, then, persuade you, my dear read- 
er, to "go and do likewise." Unburthen your- 
self by allowing some Christian friend to share 



78 THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOUL 



your burden with you, and to help to relieve 
you of it. 

And while you thus make a special confidant 
and guide of some one friend, or of your pas- 
tor, — to whom it will be the greatest honor you 
ean confer upon him, — let your general change 
of views and desires be known in your domes- 
tic circle. 

Let it be known in your family, and to your 
friends and acquaintances. Tell them of your 
position. Come out from among the world- 
ly and thoughtless and be separate. Confess 
your faith also before the world. 

This is God's own plan of becoming Christ's 
disciples, denying ourselves, taking up our 
cross, and following Him, acknowledging 
that we are weak, infirm, unworthy, and 
undeserving sinners, and that all our right- 
eousness, and hope, and help, are in the 
Lord Jesus Christ. If, my dear reader, thou 
shalt thus " confess with thy mouth the Lord 
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
God hath raised Him from the dead, thou 
shalt be saved/' Conscience may condemn 
you, guilt may alarm you, and Satan tempt 
you to doubt and fear, but do not despair — 



ENCOURAGED TO CONFESS. 79 



hope still. No guilt ever exceeded the merits 
of Christ's blood; nor has any sin ever yet con- 
quered the invincible power of his grace. In 
all thy temptations be not discouraged. These 
surges are intended not to draw you from Him, 
but to sweep away from you every filthy rag of 
self-confidence, and lead you to stand firm and 
immoveable on Christ your rock. He is the 
temple, altar, priest, and sacrifice, to whom 
every sinner may come, and none but sinners 
can come ; and to whom they are to come, not 
that they may offer an atoning sacrifice, but 
that they may trust in His sacrifice and blood 
" which cleanseth from all sin." Christ's blood 
secures reconciliation for the ungodly, (Col. i. 
20 ;) cleansing for the polluted, (1 John i. 7 ;) 
purchase from the slavery of Satan, (Acts xx. 
28 ;) redemption from the curse, (1 Peter i. 
18 ;) purging from our condemning conscience, 
(Heb. ix. 13, 14 ;) remission of all our sins, 
(Heb. x. 16, 17 ;) the glorious liberty of the 
children of God, (Rom. viii. 21 ;) a complete 
and everlasting justification before the law 
and justice of God, (Rom. v. 9 ;) and peace, 
liberty, and boldness towards God as our 
Father in heaven, (Eph. ii. 13.) how rich, 



80 THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOUL 



how free, how all-sufficient, is the grace of 
Christ ! It is, indeed, high as heaven from 
which it comes and to which it brings ; deep as 
hell from which it delivers ; and broader than 
the earth, since it not only makes propitiation 
for all the sins of all men, but brings life and 
security to angels, and u glory to God in the 
highest/' 

It is, therefore, as you perceive, of the 
very essence of belief and trust in Christ, 
to renounce as dross all our privileges, obe- 
dience, duties, graces, tears, and efforts, and 
to look for salvation to nothing but Christ, 
It is to feel that Christ Himself is the free 
gift of God, and cannot be secured by merit 
— that faith also is "the gift of God," (Eph, 
ii. 8;) and that pardon also is His "free gift," 
(Rom. v. 16.) Look to Christ, then, sinner. 
Look to Him and "thou shalt be saved/' 
(Isa. xlv. 22.) Believe on Christ and thou 
shalt not be ashamed. Come to Him and thou 
shalt find rest. " Abide in Him," and thou 
shalt secure a refuge from every doubt, and 
fear, and trembling thought. Sinner, there is 
no other Saviour, no other foundation, no 
other hope set before thee, no other refuge. 



ENCOURAGED TO HOPE. 81 



Look then to Him, and thou art secure ; look 
to any thing else and thou art undone. It is 
only "in Christ" that God is gracious, recon- 
ciling and forgiving. In Christ alone God 
is "plenteous in mercy," bound by covenant 
grace, and pledged by many precious promises, 
to receive all that come to Him, and to cast 
out none. 

To be in Christ, then, by an absolute surren- 
der of the soul to God in dependence on His 
merits and mercy, and to have Christ "formed 
in our souls," by a heartfelt faith in the word 
and promise of God, and by the sanctifying 
application of them by the Holy Spirit ; — this 
is the hope of glory,-— this is salvation, — " this 
is eternal life." 

Fear not, then, thou who art willing to be 
Christ's, to believe and to trust in Him, and to 
look to Him for all thy salvation and all thy 
desire. He will restore with the Spirit of 
meekness. (Gal. vi. 1,) He will bear all thy 
burdens. (Gal. vi. 2.) He will give "grace 
upon grace;" — grace to secure pardon, grace 
to inspire hope, grace to believe, grace to impart 
peace, "grace sufficient for every time of need." 
He will forgive not only once, but seven times, 
7 



82 THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOOTr 



not only seven times, but seventy times seven- 
th at is, every time yon sin and look to Him for 
pardon. "He that believeth shall be saved," 
and he only that " believeth not is condemned 
already/' and must remain under the wrath of 
God, because " he believeth not on the Son of 
God." Such is the offer, and the dread alter- 
native, of the gospel*- 

But it is no less true and important to be re- 
membered that he that believeth in Christ must 
also confess Him before men, or else his faith 
is dead and profiteth nothing. Christ divides- 
all men into the two classes— those that con- 
fess Him, and those that confess Him not ; and 
He says, " Him that confesses me I will con- 
fess, and him that denieth me, that is ashamed 
of me, and that will not follow me, I will 
deny." " There are few that be saved," says 
one prophet, " One of a city, and two of a 
family," says another. " Oh, my soul! thou 
art, then, with God, or thou art far away from 
Him ! Thou art converted, or thou art not ! 
Thou dost either confess Christ, or deny Him ! 
One of these two sides thou hast taken, and 
"Which is it ? Art thou in the narrow path of 
life ? or art thou in the broad way to perdi- 



■OURAGED TO HOPE. 8S 



bion? Oh, my soul ! this is worth considera- 
tion . Examine thyself; prove thyself; seek, 
and ascertain clearly. Examine thyself, whe- 
ther thou art in the faith. 

Tou feel ashamed at the sight of your own 
unworthiiiess. And well you may. But you 
may not, and ought not to feel ashamed of 
Christ, nor ashamed of thyself, seeing that He 
was made shame for you, that all your shame 
being taken away, washed in the laver of re- 
generation, sprinkled with the blood of Christ, 
and covered over with His righteousness, you 
may be presented unto God without spot or 
blemish, or any such thing. While in yourself, 
therefore, there is nothing but shame and self- 
reproach., in Christ there is nothing but glory- 
ing, and boldness, and confidence towards God. 
Of yourself you cannot think too meanly, but 
of Him you cannot think too highly. Of your- 
self you cannot think too little, but of Him you 
cannot think to© mueh. Of yourself you can- 
not fear and doubt too much, but you cannot 
labor too much for Him, nor have too great 
confidence in Him, nor indulge too exalted ex- 
pectations of good from Him. 

But you doubt and distrust your best 
thoughts and purposes, and imagine jou have 



84 THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOUL 



no real faith or love, because you find within 
you so much and so frequent doubting. But 
you ought to know, from the very working of 
the heart about that which is most clear to it, 
that there may be some doubting where there 
is strong faith and real love, and some faith 
and love even where those doubtings and 
jealousies are greatest. There may be much 
smoke while there is little or no perceptible 
flame, and yet that smoke cannot exist without 
some fire to sustain it. And thus also a man 
cannot doubt and fear, and be jealous over 
himself with an anxious jealousy, without some- 
faith and love and appreciation of Christ. 
To be convinced that you are a sinner, and 
that you believe not and love not as you know 
you should, is itself some evidence of the 
Spirit's working in your heart, since it is His 
mission to convince of sin 7 of righteousness, and 
of judgment. The ignorant man is always the 
confident, uncloubting man. Doubting implies 
knowledge of self, of God, of sin, and of Christ. 
And although faith and love are feeble and 
faint in proportion to our doubts, yet these 
doubts are proof positive of more or less faith, 
and love, and hope. 

Let not thy fears or doubts, therefore 5 lead 



ENCOURAGED TO HOPE. 85 



tliec to distrust, despondency, or despair- 
Your safety is in Christ, not in yourself. He 
is your ark, and around Him is the everlast- 
ing rainbow of promise and of preservation. 
The floods may swell and rise .higher and 
higher, until they reach the clouds. All your 
sins, like mountain billows, may go over you. 
But they cannot overwhelm Him in whom you 
trust and hope, and who is as an anchor to the 
soul, sure and steadfast. Only abide in Him. 
Think only of His power, sufficiency and grace, 
and the inheritance is as sure to you as the 
promise. 

But you feel so much deadness and hardness 
of heart and insensibility of feeling. This is 
to be expected as the result of your own men- 
tal exercises. You are required to will, and to 
do, to deny yourself, to take up your cross and 
follow Christ by doing whatsoever He hath 
commanded. Do then all that you are required, 
and just as it is required. Though it be but 
lamely, still walk in the ways of His command- 
ments. Lie not still. Awake thou that sleep- 
est. It is not your condition, but your duty 
that ought now to engage your attention. 
Neither is it what you feel disposed to do 9 but 
7* 



86 



THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOUL 



what Christ would have you to do, that yon 
ought to do with all your might. "Work, then, 
a the work of God/' Walk in His prescribed 
ways humbly and sincerely. " Take up your 
bed and walk" at His bidding. His word is 
power. Stretch out, then, your hand, though 
it be withered. Wait on the Lord, who 
" meeteth him that worketh righteousness, 
those that remember Him in all their ways," 
and " to as many as believe on Him, giveth 
power to become the sons of God." 

You want to love, and you ask me how you 
are to love. I answer, believe — trust — obey 
— follow Christ. But how are you to do that ? 
I answer, love Him for all He is, and for all 
He has done, and for all He ever lives to per- 
form in and for you. Believe much and you 
will love much. Love much and you will be- 
lieve much. Let Him who is altogether lovely, 
and who IS love, and whose love and pity 
brought Him down to save rebellious worms, 
fill your vision, your thoughts, and your desires 
and this will enkindle a flame of love and faith 
in the coldest heart. Dwell on His love with 
sweet accord. Think how much you ought to 
love Him, how much you desire to love Him, 



ENCOURAGED TO HOPE. 87 



and how little you do actually love Him, and 
"He will not leave you comfortless." He 
"will come to 3 7 ou." He will so " shed abroad 
His love in your heart," as to constrain you 
to love Him, and to live not unto yourself, but 
unto Him who died and gave Himself for you, 
and rose again that he may be with you always 
even unto the end." 

This is the true and only way to attain to a 
peaceful assurance. Simple trust and reliance 
on Christ and His promised grace, and a faith- 
ful endeavor to please Him by walking in His 
ways and obeying His commands, this will 
bring with it a peace whereof all the world 
cannot deprive us, and against which the gates 
of hell cannot prevail. The reflex exercise 
and sensible enjoyment, of assurance, is a gift 
bestowed when, and in w T hat measure it pleaseth 
Christ. But this direct confidence in Him, 
reliance on His promise, and assurance of His 
all-sufficiency — this is your privilege, nay, duty, 
at all times, — even when you are least sen- 
sible of the happy enjoyment of faith, and hope 
and love. When you feel that in yourself you 
are nothing, cast yourself, with all your bur- 
dens, on the Lord. Do not w^ait until you feel as 



88 THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOUL 



you would wish. Do not say, if the promise and 
the grace were only mine, and Christ my Sa- 
viour, I could trust and believe. This is to in- 
vert God's order, and all rational order. This 
is to make a Saviour of your experience and 
feelings, and to substitute them for Christ and 
His promises, and to build your hope on them 
and not on Christ as the only foundation laid 
in Zion. Rather say, Christ offers Himself to 
me, His promise is to me, His grace is suffi- 
cient for me, all are held forth to me in the gos- 
pel, and therefore I cannot doubt or fear, since 
with all my heart, I receive and embrace them. 
"X had fainted," says David, "unless I had 
believed to see the goodness of the Lord." 
And so will you faint unless, in the same way, 
you first believe, and then expect to realize 
"the goodness of the Lord." Hope in the 
Lord first, and then "thou shalt praise Him 
for the help of His countenance." Add, then, 
to your faith, meekness, patience, diligence, 
activity, devotion, obedience; and in thus doing 
His will, you shall come to know, in your own 
joyful experience, the peace that passeth all 
understanding. 



ENCOURAGED TO HOPE. 89 



1 There is a friend that stickcth closer tliau a brother. 1 ' 

Prov. xviii. 2-L 

One there is above all others — 

how He loves ! 
.His is love beyond a brother's — 

how He loves ! 
Earthly friends may fail or leave us, 
One day soothe, the next day grieve us, 
But this Friend will ne'er deceive us — 

how He loves ! 

; Tis eternal life to know Him — 

how He loves ! 
Think, think how much we owe Him, 

how He loves ! 
With His precious blood he bought us, 
In the wilderness He sought us, 
To His fold He safely brought us — 

how He loves ! 

We have found a friend in Jesus — 

how He loves ! 
; Tis His great delight to bless us — 

how He loves ! 
How our hearts delight to hear Him, 
Bid us dwell in safety near Him ; 
Why should we distrust or fear Him, 

how He loves ! 

Through His name we are forgiven — 

how He loves ! 
Backward shall our foes be driven — 

how He loves ! 



I 



90 THE BELIEVING AND DEVOTED SOUL, &C- 



Best of blessings He '11 provide us, 
Nought but good shall e'er betide us, 
Safe to glory He will guide us — 
how He loves ! 



CHRIST THE ROCK OF AGES. 

Rock of ages, cleft for me, 

Let me hide myself in thee : 

Let the water and the blood, 

From the wounded side which flowed, 

Be of sin the double cure ; 

Cleanse me from its guilt and power. 

Not the labour of my hands, 
Can fulfill the law's demands; 
Could my zeal no respite know, 
Could my tears for ever flow. 
All my sin could not atone, 
Thou must save, and thou alone. 

Nothing in my hand I bring, 
Simply to thy cross I cling ; 
Naked, come to thee for dress, 
Helpless, look to thee for grace ; 
Vile, I to the fountain fly, 
Wash me, Saviour, or I die. 

While I draw this fleeting breath, 
When my heart-strings break in death, 
Whem I soar to worlds unknown, 
See thee on thy judgment-throne, 
Rock of ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in thee. 



CHAPTER VII. 

OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF A PUBLIC PRO- 
FESSION OE FAITH. 

Have you, then, done this, and are you now 
in Christ, trusting to Him, and to Him alone, 
for salvation ? Or are you now ready to do 
this ? Then, if you are, it is your duty to con- 
fess Christ before men. You must make a 
public profession of this self-renunciation, and 
this devotion to Christ. You must thus put 
yourself under Christ's care, that he may in- 
struct, comfort, and guide you, and that you 
may be useful to Him and to his cause. Without 
this, you are told by the Apostle your faith is 
not right, but dead, and that you cannot be saved. 
(Rom. x. 9-11.) This, as we have seen, is in 
perfect accordance with the constitution of our 
nature, the arrangements of society, and our 
own conduct in reference to every event and 
business of life. Where there is feeling and 
faith in the heart, it will reveal itself by words, 



92 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



by writing, and by actions corresponding to 
them. It would not be enough — to resume our 
former illustration — to make a written engage- 
ment with your betrothed, in order to marriage. 
That engagement must be sealed by a public 
and solemn contract. And just so is it in your 
relation to God in Christ. When there is faith 
and love in the heart, it will manifest itself in 
our conversation, and in our private, personal 
dedication to Him. But it will do more. It 
will seek the consummation of our union to 
Christ. Of that union, marriage was instituted 
as a type and representation. Christ repre- 
sents himself as the husband, and his people 
as the bride. " Thy Maker is thy husband. " 
" Hearken, therefore, daughter, forsake also 
thine own kindred and thy father's house. So 
shall the King greatly desire thy beauty, for 
He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him." Even, 
therefore, as the loving heart seeks in a public 
contract the recognition and ratification of its 
union with the object of its fond devotion, so 
does every believer's heart desire, by a public, 
solemn covenant, to seal and testify its union 
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and its grateful wil- 
lingness to be His, His only, His wholly, and 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 93 



His forever. Love cannot slumber in cold re- 
serve where there is love, and loveliness, and 
an open hand and heart to welcome it. Faith 
cannot exist like dying embers buried up under 
the ashes of a selfish worldliness, when the Re- 
finer stands by to fan those dying embers into 
flame, feed them with oil and fuel, and blow 
upon them with the inspiring breath of His di- 
vine life. And it would, therefore, be as unnatu- 
ral, as it is impossible, for any man truly to be- 
lieve on Christ and not feel that faith, like a hot 
coal, burn within him and consume his very 
bones, until it finds vent in the full flame of ac- 
tive, consecrated zeal and devotion to His service. 
A man may, indeed, be so ignorant as not to 
know the full nature of his privilege and duty, 
and in this condition be disposed, like Nicode- 
mus, to remain in obscurity and inactivity. But 
while God may wink at this ignorance, He will 
not allow it to remain. He will cause the light 
in some way to shine upon it and irradiate it, 
that he who was shrouded in ignorance may 
walk forth in the glorious liberty of the children 
of Gocl. 

A gentleman once came to my study, who was 
in this condition. He had lived beyond middle 



94 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



life in the world and in sin, and by a remark- 
able providence was brought to consideration 
and conversion. But he was profoundly igno- 
rant of the Gospel, and indeed of the Bible, 
and he thought he might go on in his endeavors 
to be and to live a Christian, and yet retain 
his convictions to himself. But while he was thus 
privily minded, God had otherwise arranged his 
future. He was brought to hear me at night on 
an occasion, when I, a perfect stranger to him, 
was led to preach on the character and conduct 
of Nicodemus as coming to our Saviour by 
night. It was enough. It was like the light 
of the sun shining into a dark chamber. He 
saw his sin and folly, his ignorance and his sui- 
cidal course. He waited upon me, unbosomed 
his whole heart, and with eyes streaming with 
tears, and his whole frame excited by deep 
emotion, expressed his earnest desire to know 
all his duty, to take up all the cross, and to 
follow Christ at whatever sacrifice of interest 
and feeling. And this he did. He became a 
diligent student of the Scriptures. He lived 
in prayer, and even the midnight hour was 
made vocal with his songs of praise and his 
utterances of humble supplication. He became 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 95 



a member of the church, lived a life so un- 
blameable as to put to silence even his previous 
companions in sin, and died triumphant in 
faith, a ruling elder in the church. 

And so, my dear reader, will it, must it, be 
with you. 

When Count Zinzendorf was advanced in 
life, he happened to be in Geneva, on a visit, 
and being required to address some children 
there, he said : — " My dear children : I will tell 
you what I did when I was very young. I was 
told that my Creator had become man from love 
to me ; and it made a deep impression on me. 
I thought with myself, i If my compassionate 
Lord should have no other person to love him, 
at least I will cleave to him, and live and die 
with him/ Many an hour have I spent in con- 
versing with Him, as one speaks to a dear and 
honored friend. But still at that time I did 
not know the amount of what I owed Him. 
Alas ! I did not know the merits of a bleeding, 
dying Saviour, who had made an offering for 
my sins, till on a certain day, when the whole 
truth of what my Creator had borne on my ac- 
count flashed vividly before my mind. At first 
I burst into tears, and could not restrain my- 



96 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



self; it was so wondrous good of Him: and 
then I made a solemn covenant with him, to 
live to him, and love him more than I had ever 
done. I have now spent upwards of fifty years 
in daily intercourse with my Saviour, and feel 
myself every day happier." What a testimony 
was this ! Alas, how few have made religion 
such a thorough work ! Zinzenclorf 's covenant 
was a very short and simple one — "Dear Sa- 
viour, be Thou mine, and I will be Thine." 

When Zinzendorf was an old grey-haired 
man, he revisited the scenes of his boyish days ; 
and there was not a tree, nor a rock, nor a 
single spot that did not remind him of the sweet 
intercourse which he had enjoyed in prayer 
with his God. Under that tree he had first 
learned to submit his will to God. While walk- 
ing in that green lane he had first discovered 
that the redeemed from among men would be 
as pure and as free from sin in heaven as the 
holiest angels. When the last rays of the set- 
ting sun tinged yonder blue hill, and the orb 
was seen no more till it rose next morning on 
the other side, he used to think with rapture of 
death, when the day's work will be done, and of 
the glorious resurrection-morn, when the body 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 97 



shall arise to shine in heaven, and, as a sun, 
set no more. 

The first time he partook of the Lord's sup- 
per was to him a solemn season. He bound 
himself anew to his beloved Lord with an in- 
dissoluble covenant. Twenty years later he 
writes : " The transactions of that day are as 
vivid in my recollection as if it had been yes- 
terday ; and the assurance which I found on 
that day I have never lost." 

Augustine, in his Confessions, tells us of a 
great man at Rome, named Victorinus, many 
of whose friends were heathen. When God in 
his rich mercy converted him to the Christian 
religion, he came privately to Simplicianus, and 
informed him that he had become a Christian. 
Simplicianus answered, " I will not believe thee 
to be a Christian till I see thee openly profess it 
in the church." Victorinus jeeringly replied, 
" What ! do the church walls make a Chris- 
tian ?" and went his way. But when, in perus- 
ing the Scriptures, he came to those words of 
Christ, (Mark viii. 38,) " Whosoever, therefore, 
shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this 
adulterous and sinful generation, of him also 
shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he 
8* 



98 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy 
angels," he returned to Simplicianus and openly 
professed his faith and trust in Christ. 

Let this declaration, then, equally impress 
your mind ; for, assuredly, if even in the face of 
persecution and death, men were under impera- 
tive obligation to confess Christ, no possible ex- 
cuse can justify any man now in withholding 
himself from the ranks of Christ's disciples, 
since this is made necessary by the very rela- 
tion in which you stand to Christ, and in which 
Christ stands to you. " He that is not with 
me," says Christ, "is against me." Every 
man, therefore, is either the friend, or he is 
THE enemy of Christ, — every man is either on 
the side of God, and of "the seed of the wo- 
man," or on the side of Satan, and of "the seed 
of the serpent." And hence we find, that in 
the very closing page of Revelation, (Rev. xxi. 
8,) " the fearful" are put in the very fore-front 
of those " who shall have their part in the lake 
which burnetii with fire and brimstone, which 
is the second death," because, like all the rest, 
they "reject the counsel of God against them- 
selves," "obey not the truth," and, instead of 
"submitting themselves to the righteousness of 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 99 



God, go about to establish a righteousness of 
their own." 

Faith in Christ will infallibly produce love 
to Christ, and love to Christ will make the 
heart willing to " run in the way of His com- 
mandments." Hence the first cry of the be- 
lieving soul is, "Lord, what wouldst thou have 
me to do ?" and the first exclamation of all who 
hear his words, see his zeal, and witness his 
devotion, is, "Behold, he prayeth." 

Of this I will give you a very striking illus- 
tration, in the case of Mr. Baker, a deist, of 
Cincinnati.* His mind being opened to the 
truth while on a sick-bed, after prayer he said 
that he desired to make a declaration. No one 
understood what he designed to do. The cu- 
riosity of all present being excited, they rose 
and approached his bed, when with the deepest 
solemnity he expressed himself as follows : — 
"I wish to make a declaration in the presence 
of my family and of these witnesses. I now de- 
clare before you all, that I am convinced of the 
error I have advocated for twenty years past. I 
believe there is such a being as Jesus Christ. 

*See Tract 373, A. T. S. 



100 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



I believe he is the Son of God. I believe he is 
the only name by which we can be saved." 

Referring to the uncertainty of life, although 
he expected to recover, he added: " Whether 
I shall survive my present sickness or not, such 
I wish you to understand is my full belief. I 
repent of my error. I wish you, sir, to use 
this, my declaration, to comfort or strengthen 
Christians, as you may judge best. If there is 
joy in heaven over one sinner that repents, 
Christians on earth will rejoice also. I do re- 
pent. Such are the sentiments I believe, and 
mean to support and defend while I live." 

At this time Mr. Baker was thought to be 
recovering; but his disease returning, he re- 
quested earnestly to have the Lord's supper 
administered unto him. " This," says the cler- 
gyman who gives the account, " was to me a 
startling request. I was fearful that he had 
wrong views of the nature of this ordinance, 
and, like many others, might think, through its 
influence, to obtain the pardon of sin. Some 
questions were proposed to him, for the pur- 
pose of drawing out his views of this institution. 
Immediately he drew my head down and whis- 
pered in my ear, as he was unable to speak 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 101 



aloud without much effort and pain. He said 
that he regarded the Lord's Supper simply as 
a symbol of the Saviour's sufferings — he did not 
think there was any efficacy in it to save from 
sin, and that he did not expect by it to receive 
forgiveness of his sins, for he trusted only in 
the blood of Christ for salvation. But his 
reasons for desiring to receive this ordinance 
were as follows : — 

" For twenty years, he had denied publicly 
that there ever was such a being as Jesus Christ. 
Had he lived, he designed to have made a pub- 
lic profession of his faith in Him, and thus undo, 
as far as possible, the evil he had done. But 
now he was about to die without the privilege 
of making a public profession of religion. He 
therefore desired to make as public a manifes- 
tation of his faith in Christ as he could in his 
situation, and once before he died, if it could 
consistently be done, to partake of the Lord's 
Supper." 

We might illustrate the same truth from the 
history of Augustine himself. Never was man 
more hopelessly cut off from salvation by pride, 
by unbelief, by errors in doctrine, by vain philo- 



102 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



sophy, by carnal lusts, than was the young philo- 
sopher and libertine of Carthage. Oh ! how he 
grieved and afflicted the heart of that poor, be- 
reaved, widowed, but believing mother, Monica, 
who yearned over him as her only child ; and 
oh ! how dreadful his impiety, which led him to 
fly from her to Rome ; and how heavenly her 
hope, which led her to fly after him, that she 
might bring him to Christ. 

At length, through persevering prayer, and 
the clear exhibitions of sacred truth, accompa- 
nied by the power of the Holy Spirit, this man 
of pride, of sensuality, of unhallowed ambition, 
and supreme selfishness, was brought low in the 
dust of humiliation before God ; and, like Saul 
of Tarsus, was led to count all things but loss 
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. 
He now felt the absolute necessity, the infinite 
value of such a Saviour. He was filled with 
peace in believing ; and in the language of the 
Psalmist, he delighted to pour forth thanksgiv- 
ings to Him who had delivered him from the 
dominion of sin. In the fullness of his joy he 
exclaimed, " Lord ! I am thy servant, I am 
thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid ; 






A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 10? 



thou hast loosed my bonds ; Lord, who is like 
unto thee ! I will offer to thee the sacrifice of 
praise continually!" 

Having been admitted into the church, he 
resolved to return at once, with his mother, to 
Africa, that the theatre of his former blindness, 
his follies, his crimes, and his protracted impen- 
itence, might witness the sincerity of his con- 
version, and the omnipotent power of Divine 
truth and grace ; and that he might proclaim 
to his own countrymen that Redeemer whom 
he had so ungratefully dishonored. Oh ! if we 
had many Monicas, we would still have many 
Augustines, and our sons and our daughters 
would not only believe on Christ, but rejoice to 
bear any and every cross for love to His name. 

Do you, then, my dear reader, believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ ? Do you believe that He is 
able and willing to save you— -just as you are 
— with your cold, unfeeling, hard, guilty, and 
sinful heart ; and do you cast yourself unre- 
servedly on his mercy, and trust in Him alone 
for salvation ? Then come thou and do like- 
wise. Confess Christ with your mouth. 
Profess him before the church and the world ; 
and observe and do in remembrance of His 



104 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



divinity, his grace and mercy, and his all-aton- 
ing blood and righteousness, what He has com- 
manded. Having given your own heart to the 
Lord, give yourself also to his church and cause, 
according to the will of God ; and as a pledge 
of your love and devotion, come to the table 
of the Lord. 

This is what you ought to render unto the 
Lord for all his mercies — " take the cup of sal- 
vation into your own hands, and pay unto him 
your vows now, in the presence of the congre- 
gation." This is the plain and imperative duty 
of all who have the opportunity of doing it, and 
its neglect can admit of no excuse which would 
not equally excuse you for not believing on 
Christ with the heart. What fits you, fellow- 
sinner, to come to Christ himself, and to hope 
and trust in Him, fits you to come to Christ's 
table ; and as it regards both, 

" The only fitness Christ requiretk 
Is, to feel your need of Him." 

There is, and can be, no other fitness nor wor- 
thiness in any man, since we are all guilty, and 
and since there is no power in any man to make 
himself either fitter or better, seeing that it 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 



was "because we are without strength Christ 
died for the ungodly." 

Blessed be God, fellow-sinner, all grace is 
treasured up in Christ ; grace to pardon, grace 
to pacify, grace to purify, grace to edify, grace 
to sanctify, and grace to triumph by. To be- 
lieve in Christ is to believe, therefore, that in 
Him is all that we need, and to dravf living water 
out of this well OF SALVATION, by the help of 
those means Christ himself has given us, not 
that we may trust in them, but that we may be 
led by them to trust wholly and solely in Him 
to whom they refer, and on whom they depend 
for all their efficacy. Now, prayer is one of 
these means ; confession of our sins, humilia- 
tion on account of them, and turning away 
from them is another ; reading the Scriptures 
is another ; attendance on the public services 
of religion is another ; converse with Chris- 
tians is another ; charity, liberality, and ac- 
tivity in well-doing, is another ; public pro- 
fession is another ; and participation of the 
Lord's Supper is one of the most precious and 
important of these means. To return to the 
figure of Christ as the well of salvation. The 
well is deep, and its riches so "unsearchable 
9 



106 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



and past our finding out," that it is only by 
these means of grace we can let down our faith 
and draw forth the living, saving, and purify- 
ing grace. 

Every one, therefore, who is "living," as 
it regards his hopes of salvation, "by the 
faith of the Son of God," and is daily look- 
ing to Him, by humble faith and prayerful 
reliance, for "grace and mercy according to 
his need," is fit and prepared to come profit- 
ably to the Lord's table. If, then, poor doubt- 
ing soul, thou hast laid hold of Christ, thou 
hast all that God can give thee, and all that 
God will require of thee. God will have no- 
thing else, and asks for nothing else. Nothing 
will do thee good, or satisfy conscience, or take 
away sin, but Christ, who "found a ransom," 
(Job xxxiii. 24 ;) " in whom God is well pleased," 
(Matt. iii. 17 ;) and in whom God is reconciling 
sinners unto himself. God does all you want 
and will bestow all you need, as a guilty and 
hopeless sinner, for Christ's sake. " He givcth 
grace and glory, and withholdeth no good 
thing" from them that are in Christ. They 
have peace with God. They have access to 
God. They rejoice in hope of the glory of 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 107 



God. They joy also in God. He is their mer- 
ciful Father, and they are the sons and daugh- 
ters of the Lord Almighty. In themselves they 
deserve rejection, wrath, and hell. In Christ 
they are made worthy of acceptance, pardon, and 
life, and to as many as do really believe on him, 
Christ as really gives power to become the sons 
of God. They are adopted into God's family. 
They "are no longer strangers and foreigners, 
but fellow-citizens of the saints, and members 
of the household of God," and are freely wel- 
come to a hearty enjoyment of all the privi- 
leges, promises, and ordinances of this heavenly 
family. 

Do you then, my dear reader, say that you 
can believe in Christ, and be a Christian, as 
well without a profession and without the sacra- 
ment as with it ? Then you make God, who 
has so positively ordered otherwise, a liar, and 
the truth cannot be in you. Your faith is dead. 
Your love is cold as indifference itself. You 
have not charity. The love of Christ constrains 
you not. You have no regard for the honor of 
God, the glory of Christ, and the salvation of 
souls. Shame, or fear, or unbelief, rule in your 
heart. You are openly disobeying God, and 



108 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



refusing that acquiescence which God requires 
— which the interests of religion demand — 
which is essential to the very existence of the 
church — and which love to Christ imperiously 
requires. 

Do you say it is a very solemn engagement, 
and you shrink from committing yourself for 
life ? Ah ! my dear friend, does this prevent 
you, would it prevent you, from entering into 
any civil or social relationship, or into the mar- 
riage union even though made with a weak and 
fallible mortal, and although it involves all 
your interests for body and mind through every 
period of life ? And will you tell God that you 
can trust "a worm of the dust," but that you 
are afraid to trust Him who is the chief among 
ten thousand, and altogether lovely ; Him who 
is as willing as he is able to save to the utter- 
most all that trust in him; Him who is as 
willing to carry on, and to perfect, as He is to 
begin, the work of grace in their hearts ; and 
Who is able to keep that soul which is com- 
mitted unto Him until the clay of redemption. 

Do you say that you are afraid you may 
hereafter abandon or disgrace your profes- 
sion? Verily if such is thy spirit, thy "heart 






A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 109 



is not right." You still distrust God, disbe- 
lieve in Christ, and question the sincerity and 
ability of the Holy Spirit. You still cleave 
secretly to the -world, and make provision for 
future sin, and future vrorldliness. You are 
11 striving to serve two masters, God and Mam- 
mon," — the world and Christ. You are en- 
deavoring to keep your feet on the tvro differ- 
ent vessels of the world and the church, and 
you will inevitably fall between them into the 
gulf beneath. Or if this is too severe and 
harsh a judgment, and you are restrained by 
what you believe sincere and proper feelings, 
then they are mistaken. They lead you to 
look to yourself for strength to persevere, and 
not to Christ who "loves to the end those 
whom he loves." You forget that "He is 
faithful, who has promised and cannot deny 
himself," and that He will "keep by His pow- 
er, through faith, unto salvation," all who put 
their trust in Him. You forget that "neither 
life nor death, nor things present, nor things 
to come, nor any thing else, (no possible con- 
tingency.) can separate from the love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Either, 

therefore, you do not sincerely wish and de- 
9* 



110 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



sire to be and to live as a Christian, or you 
are allowing yourself to be led away by the 
old but still common error of "going about to 
establish some righteousness of your own, 
rather than submit and trust altogether to 
the righteousness of God" — to save yourself 
rather than to be saved. Or have you hitherto 
proudly opposed religion, and reviled its weak 
and halting professors, and are you now 
ashamed to retract your avowals, to recant 
your "ungodly speeches," to identify yourself 
with these inconsistent and halting professors, 
and to humble yourself to apply at the door of 
the church for admission to it ? Most sure it 
is that "the pride of life" still reigns within 
you ; that you are ashamed of Jesus ; that 
you cannot brook the contumely of His cross ; 
and that you are therefore "in the gall of 
bitterness and the bonds of iniquity," since you 
prefer the pleasures of sin for a season rather 
than suffer afflictions with the people of God, 
and the honor that cometh from man to that 
honor which cometh from God. 

Do you say you can discharge all the duties 
of a Christian, and yet remain as you are ? 
You contradict Christ, who says, "if any man 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. Ill 



will be my disciple, let him take up his cross, 
and deny himself, and follow me;" and you 
contradict the apostle Paul, who says, " that 
this is the word of faith which is preached 
to sinners — that if thou shalt confess with 
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe 
on him in thine heart, thou shalt be saved," 
and it is thus manifest that "you have neither 
part nor lot in the matter." 

Do you say the Lord's Supper is only an 
outward ordinance, and not in itself necessary 
to salvation ? I answer, first, that were it alto- 
gether such, nevertheless love and gratitude 
would say, " inasmuch as my gracious Redeem- 
er has made this observance a mark and evi- 
dence of love, I will observe it even more 
scrupulously than if it were in and of itself es- 
sential to my spiritual welfare." But, I an- 
swer, secondly, that this ordinance is not 
wholly outward, but is a seal of the covenant, 
a pledge of mercy, a token of love, a means 
of strengthening our hearts, and a season of 
special presence, communion, and merciful dis- 
pensation on the part of Christ, and of the 
blessed Comforter. It is the Lord's Sup- 
per, and as oft as we eat this bread and 



112 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



drink this wine, He is with us always, unto the 
end of the world. 

Do you say I am not fit yet to go to the 
Lord's table? "You know not what spirit 
you are of." Thou art saying, "I will be- 
come rich and increase in goods, so as to have 
need of nothing," and then I will come, " and 
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miser- 
able, and poor, and blind, and naked. " "I 
counsel thee, therefore," says Christ, "to buy 
of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest 
be rich; and white raiment that thou ma vest 
be clothed ; that the shame of thy nakedness 
do not appear." Not only those who remain 
"without," are excluded from the benefits of 
the marriage feast, but he also who comes 
there without the "wedding garment," and in 
his own dress, and who is not willing to sit 
down covered with the robe of Christ's righte- 
ousness, received as a gift at Christ's hands. 
To say you are not fit to come to the Lord's 
table, is either therefore to say that you are sin- 
ful, which is the very reason why Christ became 
your Saviour, and has provided this means of 
grace ; or it is to say that you do not wish to come 
there as a sinner, saved and sanctified alto- 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 113 



gether by grace, and in this sense it is to trust 
for fitness to your own righteousness, your own 
duties, and efforts, and attainments, which is a 
rejection of Christ. In so saying, therefore, 
you forget that you should come to Christ's 
table in order that you may build your hope 
and confidence on the love and grace of God 
in Christ; that you may find strong consola- 
tion in reposing on Christ's infinite righteous- 
ness and merits ; that you may see all your 
guilt and defilement and sin washed away in 
the fountain of Christ's blood ; and that you 
may there renounce self, trample on all self- 
righteous hopes and dependence, and " being 
justified by faith, have peace with God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ." 

But you want more faith in order to go to 
the table of the Lord ? and where, dear reader, 
are you to get this faith, but by coming to Him 
who is "the author and the finisher of our 
faith," and who has instituted this ordinance 
for the very purpose of imparting, by means of 
it, faith, and peace, and humility, and love, 
and joy, to poor and needy souls. Come, 
then, to the Lord's table, because the Lord of 
the table invites you there, and because he 



114 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



says, " Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to 
the waters ; yea, come, buy wine and milk 
without money and without price." Remem- 
ber thy sins and Christ's pardonings ; thy ill-de- 
serts and Christ's merits ; thy weakness and 
Christ's strength ; thy pride, Christ's humili- 
ty ; thy many infirmities, Christ's restorings ; 
thy guilt, Christ's new applications of his 
blood ; thy failings, Christ's assistance ; thy 
wants, Christ's fullness ; thy temptations, 
Christ's tenderness ; thy vileness, Christ's 
righteousness. Blessed soul ! whom Christ 
shall thus find among the guests of his table, not 
having on his own righteousness, (Phil. iii. 9 ;) 
but having his robes washed, and made white 
in the blood of the Lamb, (Rev. vii. 14.) 

Do you admit that you have now very different 
views of God, yourself, life, death and eternity 
from what you once had — and that it is now 
the abiding, predominating desire of your heart 
to be a true, living, loving and devoted Chris- 
tian, sanctified and made holy by the power of 
Christ and his Holy Spirit ? — why then are you 
afraid to commit yourself to an open profes- 
sion, or even to hope that you are a Chris- 
tian, or to hope in Christ's word ? Is not this 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 115 



unbelief? Are not these evidences and proofs 
that " He who hath wrought them for the self- 
same thing, is God," and that you therefore 
belong to God ? Are not these manifestations 
of Divine love, fruits of the Holy Spirit in 
your experience, decided testimonies of super- 
natural religion in your soul. And yet you have 
never owned it, — nay, hang back and refuse 
to admit the fact, fear it is not for you, and 
reject the comforts that seem poured clown into 
your soul. A thousand ifs and hits, and 
scruples are offered to the kindest inquiries 
and most affectionate expostulations that can 
be presented to you, either in public or in pri- 
vate. There has been grace enough to con- 
vince you of sin, to show you your ruin, and to 
make you willing to accept of a precious Sa- 
viour ; and yet unbelief has refused the infe- 
rence, and unbelief has rejected the comforts 
which really belong to every wakened sinner. 
And when your character has been portrayed, 
and your experience described, and your state 
before God so compared with Scripture, that 
your judgment, your mind, your knowledge 
have been obliged to admit this is you, and the 
preacher has announced it as the description of 



116 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



a Christian, you have said after all — " Not for 
me." You reject the comforts; and let me 
tell you, this is " provoking God to jealousy." 
Oh ! is it true that often upon your knees you 
have deplored your wretchedness before God, 
cried out for mercy, and sought salvation at 
His hand, often at His house, and in His word, 
seen the evidences of grace in the heart to be 
your own, and yet still say after all — " I doubt 
whether it is for me?" Oh! fellow-sinner, 
you are "provoking the Lord to jealousy." 
Wonder not, then, if He suspends the comforts 
of the gospel. Wonder not if He sends still 
darker things in personal experience. " Oh ! 
but," says you, "I am afraid of presump- 
tion." "Oh! but," says you, "I am afraid 
lest after all it should not belong to me ; lest 
after all I should turn out a hypocrite, de- 
ceiving myself, and perish in my own gain- 
saying." Shall I tell you, beloved, what 
would be the sure and solid ground upon which 
you might dismiss such scruples, and upon 
which you might draw the inferences, which 
should afford peace and comfort to the mind of 
a child of God ? If thou hast seen thyself, (0 
Holy Ghost, I pray Thee, apply this,) — if thou 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITIL 117 



hast seen thyself a wretch, deserving hell, and 
hast discovered that all thou dost want is in 
Christ, and art really willing to accept of it as 
the gift of God, and to submit your whole body, 
soul, and spirit to God in Christ, for life and 
for death, for time and for eternity, for sancti- 
fication as well as for justification, to live in 
Him and for Him, and in entire dependence 
on Him, then thou art a Christian, and then 
the comforts of the Gospel are thine, the wit- 
nessings of the Spirit are thine, the ordinances, 
and especially the Supper of the Lord are 
thine, and in rejecting them thou art " pro- 
voking the Lord to jealousy." 

It is a terrible thought, and as true as it is 
terrible, that a man may still be guilty of cru- 
cifying Christ, and bring down upon his soul 
the fearful guilt of His blood. It is related 
of Clodoveyus, a king of France, that when 
he was converted from Paganism to Christian- 
ity, while Rhemigius, the bishop, was reading 
in the gospel concerning the passion of our 
Saviour, and the abuses He suffered from Judas 
and the rest of the Jews, he broke out in these 
words : " that I had been there with my 
Frenchmen, I would have put them all to the 
10 



118 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



sword;" forgetting all the while that by his 
daily sins he was doing just what they had 
done. And thus it is, the most of men, all 
sinful men, condemn the crucifiers of Christ 
for their cruelty, but never look into them- 
selves, who, by their daily sins, make Him 
bleed again afresh. The proud man plaits a 
crown of thorns for His sacred head; the 
swearer nails His hands and feet ; the drunk- 
ard gives Him gall and vinegar to drink ; the 
envious man smites Him ; the treacherous man 
sells Him ; our hypocrisy is the kiss that be- 
trays Him ; the sins of our bodies are the tor- 
mentors of His body ; and the sins of our souls 
make His soul heavy unto death ; and cause 
him to remember afresh the withdrawing of His 
Father's love from Him, when in the heaviness 
of His anguished soul He cried out, " My 
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" 

And if in all these ways men may crucify 
the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open 
shame, with what bolder and more profane hand 
do they crucify the Son of God, and put Him 
to open shame, who set at naught that blessed 
ordinance in which Christ is so evidently fct set 
before us crucified and slain ?" — who turn away 



A TUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 119 



from Him, as He himself stands at the head of 
His own table, and pointing them to His thorn- 
crowned, bleeding brow, and to His pierced 
hands and feet and side, in accents of divine 
compassion says, " Come unto Me and I will 
giye you rest. Do this in remembrance of Me. 
If ye love Me keep My commandments. For 
as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this wine, 
ye do show the Lord's death till He come." 
Oh, my dear reader, is it not manifest that to 
set at naught such words of love, and such 
commands of your dying Saviour, is to assume 
to yourself the guilt of His death, the ven- 
geance for which His blood cries aloud, and 
madly shouting with His enemies, " Away with 
Him ! away with Him ! crucify Him ! crucify 
Him!" — impiously crucify Christ afresh, and 
put Him to an open shame. 

Come then, oh, come to Him. Come to His 
church. Come to His ordinances. Come to 
His table. "Only believe," receive and em- 
brace Him, and He will "be made, of God, to 
your soul, wisdom and righteousness and sanc- 
tification and redemption." 

Come with me, reader, unto yonder humble 
dwelling. There has just entered the cele- 



120 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



brated Dr. Chalmers. The scene is a low, dirty 
hovel, over whose damp and uneven floor it is 
difficult to walk without stumbling, and into 
which a small window, coated with dust, admits 
hardly enough of light to enable an eye unac- 
customed to the gloom, to discern a single 
object. A poor old woman, bed-ridden, and 
almost blind, who occupies a miserable bed op- 
posite the fireplace, is the object of the Doctor's 
visit. Seating himself by her side, he enters 
at once, after a few general inquiries as to her 
health, &c, into religious conversation with 
her. Alas ! it seems all in vain. The mind 
which he strives to enlighten has been so long 
closed and dark, that it appears impossible to 
thrust into it a single ray of light. Still, on 
the part of the woman, there is an evident 
anxiety to lay hold upon something of what he 
is telling her ; and encouraged by this, he per- 
severes, plying her, to use his own expression, 
with the offers of the gospel, and urging her to 
trust in Christ. At length she said, " Ah ! 
sir, I would fain do as you bid me, but I dinna 
ken how ; how can I trust in Christ ?" " Oh, 
woman," was his expressive answer, in the dia- 
lect of the district, "just lippen to Him." 
"Eh, sir," was the reply, "and is that a'?" 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 121 



"Yes, yes," was his gratified response; "just 
lippen to Him, and lean on Him, and you'll 
never perish. " To some, perhaps, this lan- 
guage may be obscure, but to that poor dying 
woman, it was as light from heaven ; it guided 
her to the knowledge of the Saviour, and there 
is good reason to believe it was the instrument 
of ultimately conducting her to heaven. And 
so, dear reader, will it guide you. It is not 
easy to give an English equivalent for the word 
"lippen." It expresses the condition of a per- 
son who, entirely unable to support or protect 
himself, commits his interests, or his life, to 
safe-keeping of some person or object. Thus, 
a man crossing a chasm on a plank, lippens to 
the plank ; and if it give way, he can do nothing 
for himself. The term implies, therefore, en- 
tire dependence, under circumstances of risk 
helplessness. As lost and helpless, let me en- 
treat you then, to accept the offer of Christ's 
hand, Christ's help, Christ's guidance, Christ's 
deliverance, Christ's all-sufficiency, Christ's 
promise, and Christ's ordinances, and "just 
lippen to him," and you will be borne safely 
over the roaring gulf of perdition, and planted 



on the rock of ages. 



10* 



122 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



Come to the Lord's table, then, -weak and 
trembling believer, that you may lean on 
Christ's bosom. "That," says an old divine, 
" is the gospel ordinance posture in which we 
should pray, and hear, and perform all duties. 
Nothing but lying in that bosom will dissolve 
hardness of heart, and make thee to mourn 
kindly for sin, and cure a careless spirit, that 
gangrene in profession. That will humble in- 
deed, and make the soul cordial to Christ, and 
sin vile to the soul ; yea, transform it into the 
glory of Christ. Never think thou art right as 
thou shouldst be, a Christian of any attainment, 
until thou comest to this — always to see and 
feel thyself lying in the bosom of Christ who is 
in the bosom of his Father. (John i. 18.) 
Come and move the Father for near views of 
Christ, and you will be sure to speed. You 
can come with no request that pleaseth Him 
better. He gave him out of his own bosom for 
that very end, to be held up before the eyes of 
all sinners as the everlasting monument of his 
Father's love." 

"Do this, then, in remembrance of Christ." 
Such is the voice of your Lord and Master ; 
and lest you should think it referred only to 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 123 



the twelve disciples, the apostle Paul assures 
you that this ordinance is to run parallel with 
time, and that by it, all who trust in His name 
are to "show forth Christ's death till he come." 
How, then, if you have hitherto neglected this 
ordinance, will you answer for your conduct in 
the day of the revelation of Christ's righteous 
judgment ? This is a command, remember, 
which is not couched in any doubtful terms, 
but plain, positive, and demanding immediate 
and implicit obedience. No sophistry can darken 
its meaning, or elude its force. Surely, then, 
in setting it at naught, you are challenging the 
authority of God over you, and impiously de- 
claring, " Who is the Lord that I should obey 
Him," instead of saying, "Lord what wouldst 
thou have me to do ?" But " Who art thou, that 
thus repliest against God ?" Who art thou that 
choosest what Divine commands thou art to 
obey, and what to treat with contempt, although 
given by Him who has all power both in heaven 
and in earth ? 

Who art thou, that thou puttest away from 
thee the obligations of this command ? Either, 
dear reader, thou must be a communicant, or a 
delinquent and a rebel. Either thou must seek 



124 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



the grace necessary to obey this command, or 
bring upon thy soul the guilt of violated 
duty. Unfitness is no excuse. For surely since 
all the fitness Christ requireth is to feel your 
need of Him, not to feel this is an aggrava- 
tion, and not an extenuation of your guilt. 
Consider well, then, before you incur Divine 
indignation, and endanger your own salvation, 
" by openly setting Christ at naught, crucifying 
him afresh, and putting him to an open shame." 
For, remember also, that while union to Christ's 
church, and remembrance of Him in his ordi- 
nance, is a duty, it is also an inestimable privi- 
lege, and God may swear in His wrath, that this 
privilege, with all of heavenly rest it implies, 
you shall never enjoy. It may be very true, 
that you are not as loving, as believing, as 
strong, as sanctified as you should be, but are 
you willing, by unbelief and rejection of the 
Divine mercy, to have your name wanting in 
the book of life? Are you prepared to " sell 
your birthright," and to write it in a covenant 
that you have neither part nor lot in Christ or 
His salvation ? When " the Lord comes to 
count and write up His people," are you will- 
ing to find your name omitted, and your inheri- 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 125 



tance given to a more faithful servant? If 
not, then you must repent and believe the 
gospel, and having done this, come with what- 
ever measure of faith and hope you have, to 
this means which is designed to increase your 
faith. 

The feeling of every awakened and grateful 
heart must be that of the individual mentioned 
by Dr. Colton. He had lived as a mere re- 
specter, without becoming a professor of reli- 
gion. He was now on his dying bed, and ex- 
pressed an exceedingly earnest desire to make 
a profession of his faith in Christ, by partici- 
pating in the Lord's Supper. "Not," said he, 
" that I think the reception of the Lord's Sup- 
per is essential to salvation ; but I do feel that 
if I die without it, I can never be happy, be- 
cause I shall never forget that there was a com- 
mand of my Saviour who so unspeakably loved 
me, and that I never obeyed it." 

" Can we for whom the Saviour bled, 
Careless his heavenly banquet see, 

Nor heed the parting word that said, 
Do this in memory of Me." 

This was very strikingly illustrated in the 
case of the military gentleman to whom I have 



126 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



alluded. A short time after the interview 
alluded to, and when he had given the most 
satisfactory evidence of a thorough change of 
heart and life, the communion was adminis- 
tered. I had not thought of inviting him to 
consider the subject of a public profession for 
some time to come, that his conversion might 
have full proof in his own experience and in the 
judgment of others. He had, however, estab- 
lished family worship, and w T as in the habit of 
daily religious converse with his former asso- 
ciates. The morning of the communion having 
arrived, I was seated in the pulpit, arranging for 
the commencement of the services, when I per- 
ceived my friend, now bordering on the allotted 
period of man's age upon the earth, coming up 
the pulpit stairs. He was full of earnestness. 
He who was once timid and fearful as a hare 
secreting itself from the hounds, was now bold 
as a lion. What he had counted shame, was 
' now his glory ; what had been forced upon 
him as a hard necessity, was now his choice 
and his delight ; and what he had thought of 
cherishing as a secret in the recesses of his own 
heart, he now wished to proclaim from the 
house-top. He had enlisted under Christ as 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 127 



his captain of salvation, and he was eager to 
unfurl " the banner given to him because of the 
truth," and to "fight manfully the good fight 
of faith, contending if needs be, even unto 
blood striving against sin." 

He was, therefore, all anxiety, if it were pos- 
sible, to unite in the communion, and in order 
to do so, "My dear pastor," said he, "I am 
ready to stand up before the congregation, 
confess my past sinful course, avow my present 
repentance and sorrow, my faith in Christ, and 
my desire and determination to become one of 
his followers." But when I informed him that 
he could commune with us at that time in spirit, 
but that it would be better for him, as it was 
according to order in the church, to wait for 
another communion season, he at once con- 
sented and resumed his seat. 

Of this fact I could multiply illustrations, 
but at the hazard of being tedious, will mention 
one other. It is the case of a highly educated 
and polished gentleman and one who "lived 
according to the course of this world," in boast- 
ful contempt of the law and authority of God, 
and acknowledging no other law than the code 
of fashion and the code of honor. By these 



128 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



he formed his opinions and moulded his con- 
duct, looking down with contempt upon what 
he thought the cowardly, mean spirit of reli- 
gion, and " often," as he told me, " doing what 
was prohibited by God, just because God had 
forbidden it." He had been a duellist, and but 
two or three Sabbaths before he saw me, he 
had spent the day in practicing a younger 
brother to fight a duel on the following morn- 
ing ! A revival of religion was in progress in 
our church, of which his father, who is a pious 
man, was then a member. The Spirit of God 
had reached his heart while alone in the coun- 
try, and he had for some time struggled against 
agonizing convictions, so as on one occasion to 
induce almost an apoplectic fit* 

In this state of mind he visited town, and 
came with his father to a Thursday evening lec- 
ture. I was greatly surprised at seeing him, 
and still more at his marked attention during 
the discourse. He remained over Sabbath, and 
on Monday morning called upon me a humbled, 
broken-down sinner, seeking for mercy. He 
told me "that had I known everything in his 
past life and feelings, I could not have more 
accurately depicted them, and that he now 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OP FAITH. 129 



wished to come out from the world and live as 
a Christian.'"' 

This, in due course of time, he did, and then 
stood up in the aisle, in the presence of a large 
congregation, as one of one hundred and eight 
persons, including the aged and the young, and 
among them some eight colored persons, who, 
— on that hallowed Sabbath, memorable in the 
history of that church,-— entered into covenant 
with God, by a public profession of their faith 
in Christ.* 

Listen, then, dear reader, to the voice of the 
Lord. He summons you to quit the standard 
of error, and to range yourself under that of 
truth. Come forth, then, from the camp of his 
adversaries, and enter into that of his friends. 
Unite yourself to the holy band of patriarchs 
and prophets, of apostles and martyrs, and all 
those illustrious men of all ages and countries, 
who have considered this profession their glory, 
and have glorified it by their holy lives and 
triumphant deaths. Why can you not do this ? 
What hinders ? The door is open, wide open. 
The invitation is full, free, universal, and con- 

* Of these and other converts, more than twenty are 
now ministers of the gospei. 

11 



130 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



firmed by the promise and the oath of God. 
The command is plain, positive, and paramount. 
Why then, oh ! why will you prefer the sullied, 
flaunting, heart-mocking, and perishing ban- 
ners of the world, the flesh, and the devil, to 
the pure, peaceable, purifying, and immortal 
banner of Christ's everlasting kingdom ? Be- 
hold the fashion of the world passeth away. 
Already its grandeur and its delights are fad- 
ing on your distant view. Soon it will have 
vanished, and all on earth will be dark, 
dreary, and full of bitterness. You will close 
your eyes upon it forever. And then what 
will remain to you of all the pleasures of sin, 
the profits of business, the hallucinations of 
fashion, the vanities and vexations of earth ? 
Nothing but their remembrance, and the ever- 
lasting remorse they will carry with them. 
" Wherefore, come out from among them, and 
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the 
unclean thing ; and I will receive you, and will 
be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons 
and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." k *If 
any man will come after Me, let him deny him- 
self, and take up his cross, and follow Me ; 
and him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 181 



cast out." " Come unto Me all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for 
I am meek and lowly in heart ; and ye SHALL 
find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is 
easy and My burden is light." 

On one occasion, the Rev. David Nelson,* 
related the following incident. He went to 
the house of a young man of wealth on an 
evening when the brilliant parlors were filled 
with the sons and daughters of fashion. After 
the crowd had dispersed, as he sat alone with 
the young man, he began to talk with him 
about the interest of his soul. The man re- 
plied, he would gladly become a Christian, if 
he knew what to do. " Suppose," said Dr. 
Nelson, "the Lord Jesus stood in this room, 
and you knew it was the Lord Jesus, and he 
should look kindly on you, and stretch out 
his hand towards you, and should say, c Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy- 
laden, and I will give you rest,' what would 
you do ?" "I would go to him, and fall down 
before him, and ask him to save me," was the 
reply. "But what if your gay young compan- 

* Author of " The Cause and Cure of Infidelity." 



132 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



ions were in the room, and they should point and 
laugh at you?" "I should not care for that. 
I should go to the Lord Jesus." u Well, the 
Lord is really in this room, though you cannot 
see him, and he stretches out his hand to you, 
and says, ' Come unto me;' and you should 
believe what he says in his letter, the Bible, 
as much as though you heard the words." 
Soon after this conversation he had the pleas- 
ure of meeting this young man at the table of 
the Lord. 

If, then, my dear reader, you believe in 
Christ, and are willing to give up all for Him, 
you also will feel that this commandment 
and ordinance of Christ require your im- 
mediate observance. And if, on the other 
hand, you do not believe in Christ, and are 
not willing to give up all for Him, then what 
are you but "a child of wrath," an heir of 
hell, a captive of the devil, " led by him at 
his will," dead while you live, and on your way 
to death everlasting. Oh ! be persuaded, then, 
to give yourself to Christ now, at once, in this 
thy day, ere the offer of salvation is forever 
withdrawn. Have you been " almost persuaded 
to be a Christian?" oh ! be persuaded altogether 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 133 



to make a full, final, and absolute surrender of 
your soul to Christ. Believe on Him with the 
heart, and then come and confess Him with 
the mouth, and thou shalt not be ashamed. 
" And now, Lord," let your heart and your lips 
say, "all my desire is before thee. I am con- 
vinced of my duty, and dare no longer disobey. 
Oh ! forgive me, that I have rebelled so long ! 
I have been invited to become thy disciple and 
to come to thy table, and have foolishly neglect- 
ed many an opportunity of strengthening and 
refreshing my soul. I have been commanded 
to do this in remembrance of Him, who de- 
serves never to be forgotten ; and by my 
refusal and neglect, have at once poured con- 
tempt upon the authority, and slighted the love 
of Him who loved me, and gave Himself for 
me. 

"I bless thee, that I am in some measure 
sensible of my error; and am come to a reso- 
lution, that I will have respect to this, as well 
as thy other commands. The time past shall 
suffice me to have lived in the omission of so 
plain a duty, and the neglect of so glorious a 
privilege. Oh ! keep it upon the imagination 
of my heart forever; and let me be confirmed 
11* 



134 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



in those good purposes, which thy own Spirit 
has led me to form, and which no less power 
than His can help me to keep. 

"I am indeed unworthy ; but I acknowledge 
the insufficiency of that plea, against a positive 
command. I am unworthy, but must not there- 
fore refuse Thy kindness ; I hope I am in 
Christ, who came to seek and to save the un- 
worthy, and who is able to save and sanctify to 
the very uttermost ; and therefore I cannot any 
longer neglect an ordinance, which is at once 
so great a duty and so exalted a privilege, and 
in the use of which I hope to grow in grace, 
and in the knowledge of my Lord. 

" Or, if I have hitherto deceived myself, and 
walked in a vain show, I now desire to accept 
of the gospel-offer, to enter into covenant with 
God, to acknowledge thee, Father, Son, and 
Spirit, to be my God, my all, my everlasting 
portion. In deep humility, upon my bended 
knees, I now accept an offered Saviour, and 
call heaven and earth to witness, that, as far 
I can judge, I am sincere. And this I would 
declare in the presence of thy people ; beg- 
ging, with some hope and confidence, that I 
may be accepted now, and found in the number 
of the faithful at last. 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 135 



" direct me in all the steps I am to take, 
and let me see my way, and follow it, and have 
comfort in the issue, through the merits and 
mediation of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
Amen." 

Whom dost Thou, dear Redeemer, call 

To Thy sweet feast of grace, 
Admit into the banquet hall, 

And at Thy table place ? 
'Tis not the proud, the rich, the strong, 

With earthly good content, 
But sick and weary souls, who long 

For nobler nourishment. 

Ah ! didst Thou, for the pure alone, 

The royal feast prepare ? 
Small were the hope for such a one 

As me, to find a share. 
But since the blind, the sick, the lame, 

Obtain admission free, 
I, too, will venture, in God's name, 

To join the company. 

Yet who would think the guests he sees, 

Around that table placed, 
Were victims all of foul disease, 

With ghastly wounds defaced? 
For lo ! their generous host provides, 

From his full store on high, 
For each a shining robe, that hides 

All his deformity. 



136 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



And I, in that bright garment dressed, 

Will to the table go ; 
For, Lord, thou will not scorn a guest, 

Because his rank is low. 
When others coldly close the door, 

Wide flies the gate of grace ; 
And he who was the least before, 

Obtains the highest place. 



"THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME." 

If human kindness meets return, 

And owns the grateful tie ; 
If tender thoughts within us burn, 

To feel a friend is nigh : 

shall not warmer accents tell 

The gratitude we owe 
To Him who died, our fears to quell, 

Our more than orphan's wo ! 

While yet his anguished soul surveyed 
Those pangs he would not flee ; 

What love his latest words displayed, — 
"Meet and remember me !" 

Remember thee ! thy death, thy shame, 

Our sinful hearts to share ! 
memory, leave no other name 

But his recorded there. 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 137 



WELCOME TO THE TABLE. 
This is the feast of heavenly wine, 

And God invites to sup ; 
The juices of the living vine 

Were press'd to fill the cup. 

Oh, bless the Saviour, ye who eat, 

With royal dainties fed ; 
Not heaven affords a costlier treat, 

For JESUS is the bread ! 

The vile, the lost, — he calls to them; 

" Ye trembling souls, appear! 
The righteous in their own esteem 

Have no acceptance here. 

11 Approach, ye poor, nor dare refuse 
The banquet spread for you 5" 

Dear Saviour, this is welcome news ! 
Then I may venture too. 

If guilt and sin afford a plea, 

And may obtain a place ; 
Surely the Lord will welcome me, 

And I shall see his face. 



"THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME." 

According to thy gracious word, 

In meek humility, 
This will I do, my dying Lord, 

I will remember thee. 



138 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



Thy body, broken for my sake, 
My bread from heaven shall be ; 

Thy testamental cup I take, 
And thus remember thee. 

Gethsemane can I forget ? 

Or there thy conflict see, 
Thine agony and bloody sweat, 

And not remember thee ? 

When to the cross I turn mine eyes, 

And rest on Calvary, 
Lamb of God, my sacrifice ! 

I must remember thee : — 

Remember thee, and all thy pains 

And all thy love to me ; 
Yea, while a breath, a pulse remains, 

Will I remember thee. 

And when these failing lips grow dumb 
And mind and memory flee, 

When thou shalt in thy kingdom come, 
Jesus, remember me. 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

Lord ! at thy table we behold 
The wonders of thy grace ; 

But most of all admire that we 
Should find a welcome place — 

We, who were all defiled with sin, 
And rebels to our God ! 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 139 



We, who have crucified thy Son, 
And trampled on his blood ! 

What strange, surprising grace is this, 
That we, so lost, have room ! 

Jesus our weary souls invites, 
And freely bids us come. 

Ye saints below, and hosts above, 
Join all your sacred powers ; 

No theme is like redeeming love. 
No Saviour is like ours. 



Jesus, I my cross have taken, 

All to leave and follow Thee ; 
Naked, poor, despised, forsaken, 

Thou from hence my all shall be. 
Perish, every fond ambition, 

All I've sought, or hop'd, or known ; 
Yet how rich is my condition, 

God and heaven are still my own. 

Let the world despise and leave me, 

They have left my Saviour too ; 
Human hearts and looks deceive me, 

Thou art not, like them, untrue ; 
And whilst Thou shalt smile upon me, 

God of wisdom, love, and might, 
Foes may hate, and friends disown me- 

Show Thy face, and all is bright. 

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure, 
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain j 



140 OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF 



In Thy service pain is pleasure, 

With Thy favor loss is gain. 
I have called Thee, Abba, Father, 

I have set ray heart on Thee j 
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather, 

All must work for good to me. 

Man may trouble and distress me, 

; Twill but drive me to Thy breast ; 
Life with trials hard may press me, 

Heaven will bring me sweeter rest. 
0, 'tis not in grief to harm me, 

While Thy love is left to me ; 
! 'twere not in joy to charm me, 

Were that joy unmixed with Thee. 

Soul, then know thy full salvation, 

Rise o'er sin, and fear, and care ; 
Joy to find in every station, 

Something still to do or bear. 
Think what spirit dwells within thee— 

Think what Father's smiles are thine j 
Think that Jesus died to win thee ; 

Child of heaven, can'st thou repine ? 

Haste thee on, from grace to glory, 

Armed by faith, and winged by prayer, 
Heaven's eternal days before thee, 

God's own hand shall guide thee there. 
Soon shall close thy earthly mission, 

Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days, 
Hope shall change to glad fruition. 

Faith to sight, and prayer to praise. 



A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH. 141 



« LORD, HELP ME." 

Matt. xv. 2-3. 

Blessed be Thy name, 

Jesus Christ ! the same 

Yesterday, to-day, forever ; 

What from Thee my soul shall sever, 

While I hear Thy voice, 

And in Thee rejoice ? 

Guide me with Thine eye ; 

Warn to fight or fly, 

When the foe, a lion raging, 

Or, with serpent-guile assuaging,, 

Comes in wrath to tear, 

Or by fraud ensnare. 

Hold me with Thy hand, 

For by faith I stand ; 

On Thy strength my sole reliance. 

In Thy truth my whole affiance j 

Then, where'er I roam, 

I am travelling home. 



12 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CTE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING TO UNITE WITH 
^HE CHURCH AND COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 

Just as assuredly as any man desires and 
hopes for salvation, must lie yield himself un- 
reservedly and without compromise, to that 
God who provided salvation for him — to that 
Saviour who has redeemed him by His own 
precious blood— and to that ever-blessed Spirit 
who has so graciously undertaken to work in 
our hearts to will and to do according to the 
purpose of God. This is the W T ord of the Gos- 
pel, that " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth 
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, 
thou shalt be saved." Thus thought and thus 
acted the primitive believers. They " first gave 
their ownselves to the Lord, and then to His 
church, according to the will of God." 

This; many now living have felt to be their 
happy privilege to do ; and this you, my dear 
reader, are now, I trust, about to do. Be 



THE THUE BELIEVER PREPARING, <fcC. 143 



thankful, my friend, that God has heard your 
supplication, and that you have been encour- 
aged to participate in such great and unspeak- 
able privileges. Remember, however, that such 
encouragement is founded, not upon any fitness, 
preparedness, or worthiness in you, but upon 
the hope that you have become sensible of your 
own ignorance, guilt, and insufficiency, and 
have embraced Christ, and that you are looking 
to Him by prayer, and the diligent use of every 
means of grace, for wisdom and righteousness, 
and complete redemption ; for His Holy Spirit 
to renew and sanctify you ; and for grace and 
mercy according to your every need. This, 
and this alone, can give you a well-grounded 
hope that you have believed in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and that you have fled from every 
self-righteous dependence, and "laid hold on 
Christ as the only hope set before you in the 
Gospel." See to it then, my dear friend, that 
such is your spirit, your determination, and 
your hope. Without this you are still without 
Christ, and consequently " without God and 
without hope in the world." Without this your 
profession will only be hypocrisy, and your 
communicating in Christ's presence only a 



144 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



"crucifying of Christ afresh," by a shameful 
denial of the freeness, fullness, and all-suffi- 
ciency of His work and mercy, His Spirit and 
grace. Not to communicate is a dreadful sin, 
but so also is unworthy communion. As the 
one is an open rejection of God's authority, so 
is the other a daring insult to God's omni- 
scient purity and holiness. The one refuses 
to obey the invitation to come to the feast, 
and the other comes without a wedding gar- 
ment. The one lives without Christ and with- 
out God in the world, and the other in the 
church. The one is rebellion and the other is 
hypocrisy, and both sinful exceedingly. 

See to it, then, that " Christ is formed within 
you the hope of glory," and that you are "in 
Christ," a not having on your own righteous- 
ness, which is as filthy rags" in the sight of 
God who looketh upon the motive and the 
heart, but that you are clothed in the true 
and only wedding garment, "the white robe" 
of the spirits of the just made perfect in heaven. 
"Prove, therefore, your ownself ; know you not 
your ownself; how that Jesus Christ is in you, 
except ye be reprobate." For if you are not 
in Christ — if you are not dead to any further 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 145 



confidence in yourself, and to any hope of sal- 
vation, or of sanctification, safety, and perse- 
vering holiness, except through Christ, — your 
" goodness will be as the morning cloud, and 
the early dew, that soon passeth away;" and, 
" having put your hand to the Gospel plough," 
you will be found among those " who turn back 
unto perdition," and concerning whom Christ 
will say, at the day of judgment, u I never 
knew you." He alone can "stand fast," who 
has built his hope upon the rock Christ Jesus, 
since He is not only an immoveable rock to 
sustain, but also a spiritual rock to follow 
Him through all the wilderness, out of which 
will flow living waters, to quench and satisfy 
his thirsty soul. He alone is alive to God, so 
that he shall " grow in grace, and in the know- 
ledge of God," who, from the bottom of his 
heart, can say, " I live, yet not I, but Christ 
liveth in me ; and the life which I now live in 
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, 
who loved me, and gave Himself for me." 
Blessed is the man whose hope is thus fixed in 
Christ, "whose sins are covered." Pie shall 
not be moved by any slight of men, or artifice 
of the devil, but shall be "like a tree planted 
12* 



146 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



by rivers of water, whose leaves are always 
green, and its fruit plentiful, and whose root 
fadeth never.' ' The confession made by such 
a man, being rooted in the grace of Christ, will 
never issue in broken vows and cursed apostacy. 
"Take heed then," my dear reader, " that 
there be not in you an evil heart of unbelief," 
which will assuredly lead you "to depart from 
the living God." How many professors, that 
once appeared "hot" (Rev. iii. 14-16,) have 
cooled down into lukeivarmness and indiffer- 
ence, into worldliness and formality, and some- 
times even into the icy form of ungodliness and 
infidelity, and having "begun in the Spirit," 
have "ended in the flesh." Their foundation 
being in themselves — their hope springing from 
excited feeling, and not from the word and 
promise, the person and the Spirit of Christ, 
and "having no root in them, — after a time 
they fall away, and " walk no more with Jesus." 
They never really knew Christ and the power 
of His Gospel, and therefore He never knew 
them. And hence "they have gone out from 
us, because they were not of us ; for if they had 
been of us, they would still have continued 
with us." 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 147 



There is, therefore, much to alarm the fears 
and awaken the conscience, in the discussion 
of the question, Ought I to join the church 
and go to the Lord's Supper ? Many do both, 
and yet eat and drink unworthily. They bring 
judgment, that is, as the word means, con- 
demnation upon themselves. They provoke 
God to withdraw his Spirit from them, to visit 
them with the frowns of his Providence, and 
to seal them to the day of perdition. They 
know that they were never convinced of sin, 
never converted, never born again, never 
transformed by the renewing of their mind, 
never truly devoted to God. While with their 
lips they confess Christ, their hearts are far 
from Him. They are none of His. They fol- 
low not after Him. They neither walk with 
Him, nor w^ork for Him, nor live in or for 
Him, nor love Him. They neither feel the 
guilt of sin nor the greatness of salvation, the 
goodness of God nor the grace of Christ. 
They never felt the misery of being lost nor 
the rapture of being found, the helplessness of 
spiritual death nor the power of God in making 
them alive again. They were never led to cry 
out, " God, be merciful to me a sinner," and 



148 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



never had reason, therefore, to "rejoice in 
God" as a sin pardoning God, merciful and 
gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression and 
sin. They do not live to Christ and they can- 
not die unto Him. 

They have, therefore, gone back and walk . 
no more with Christ and His people, or live in 
open hypocrisy and as enemies of the cross of 
Christ. For them to profess religion is impiety 
and to communicate is a lie. It is to take 
God's name in vain. It is to say by the lips 
and the mouth and the posture that they are 
the Lord's and that the Lord is theirs, while 
their heart is far from Him. It is Judas like 
to betray Christ with a kiss, and like Ananias 
and Sapphira to lie, "not unto men merely, 
but unto God." 

This is sadly true, and I dare not, dear hearer, 
conceal it from you. There is such a thing as 
faith without works, which is dead — a name to 
live which is only the covering of a dead corpse 
— the form without the power of godliness — 
a religion which is no more than sounding 
brass or a tinkling cymbal. These are dead 
and unprofitable branches, withered, fruitless, 
having no root and no life from the living 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 149 



vine, and what have such to do to come to the 
feast of the Lord? Can the dead praise Him? 
Can the dead call on His name, or feed upon 
Him, or grow up into the stature of perfect 
men in Christ Jesus ? No ! Oh no ! This 
feast is for the living, not the dead ; for those 
who have been quickened by Christ ; for those 
who having spiritual appetites and desires 
created within them, who as new-born babes, 
desire the sincere milk of the word that they 
may grow thereby, who hunger and thirst 
after righteousness that they may be filled, 
and whose heart's desire and prayer is, that 
their souls may prosper and be in health. 

All this is true — sadly true — and ought to 
lead you to examine yourself whether you be in 
the faith, and so eat of this bread and drink 
of the wine. Let not this, however, discour- 
age you, if you realize and feel your own 
unworthiness ; your want of any ability or 
strength to "hold fast your profession stedfast 
to the end, or to walk worthy of Him who 
hath called you" by His Spirit, and His 
grace, unto a life of holiness and new obedi- 
ence. It is, indeed, a great thing to be a 
Christian. The Christian life is a high, holy, 
and heavenly calling. Its standard is perfec- 



150 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



tion ; its spirit purity ; its aim holiness in the 
fear of God ; its object the glory of God and 
the salvation of man ; and its end everlasting 
life. It is as high above every other order, 
association, and rule of action, as the heavens 
are above the earth; as God is higher than 
man ; and as the Bible is more perfect than 
any human code of morals. Any other calling 
a man may fulfil by his own ability ; but to 
" walk by this rule," a man must be directed 
by " that wisdom which cometh from above, 
which is profitable to direct, and which tho- 
roughly furnishes unto every good word and 
work," and he must be upheld and "kept also 
by the power of God, through faith unto 
salvation." 

Great, however, as is the calling, the work, 
and the aim of the Christian, still greater is 
that grace and mercy which is vouchsafed by 
God to "work in him to will and to do;" — 
still greater is the merit, the intercession, and 
the ever-living presence and sympathizing spirit 
of our Divine Redeemer, who "prays for His 
disciples that their faith fail not;" — and still 
greater, too, the almighty power of God the 
Holy Spirit, who can preserve the graces He 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 151 



lias "wrought," subdue corruptions, help us to 
"crucify the world, the flesh, and the devil;" 
"to walk humbly with God;" and to "keep 
ourselves unspotted from the world," yes, able 
to wash, sanctify, and completely redeem us, 
and present us faultless before the Father with 
exceeding joy. Great then, sinner, are thy 
sins, but greater that plenteous redemption 
which says to you, " though thy sins be as 
scarlet they shall become white as snow, though 
they be red as crimson, they shall become 
white as wool." Great, sinner, are thy sins, 
which have abounded so as to rise like a moun- 
tain over your head, but the grace of Christ 
"has much more abounded," so that this moun- 
tain of iniquity shall be removed and cast into 
the sea of forgetfulness, and remembered no 
more forever. Great, thou fearful heart, is 
thy weakness and unbelief, but God has " laid 
thy help on one who is mighty to save," who 
is " Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the 
Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace." 
" He is able, therefore, to save to the uttermost 
all that come unto God by Him." "Look then 
unto Me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the 
earth, for I am God, and there is none else. ' 



152 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



Great, thou weak believer, is thy proneness 
to wander, and to forget Christ ; but greater is- 
the love of Christ, " who will never leave nor 
forsake you, who having once loved you, will 
love you unto the end, and who having begun 
a good work in you, will carry it on till the 
day of Jesus Christ." Great and numerous 
are thy foes, thy enemies, and thy tempta- 
tions; but " greater is He that is for you, than 
all that can be against you;" "He is faithful 
to His promises, and cannot deny Himself;" 
"His gifts and calling are without repent- 
ance;" and as " He is the author, so is He 
the finisher of your faith." "And we know 
that all things work together for good to them 
that love God, to them who are the called ac- 
cording to His purpose. For whom he did fore- 
know, he also did predestinate to be conformed 
to the image of His Son, that He might be the 
first born among many brethren. Moreover, 
whom He did predestinate, them He also called ; 
and whom He called, them He also justified ; 
and whom He justified, them He also glorified. 
What shall we say, then, to these things ? If 
God be for us, who can be against us ? He 
that spared not His own Son, but delivered 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 158 



Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him 
also freely give us all things ? Who shall lay 
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is 
God that justifieth. Who is he that condemn- 
eth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that 
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of 
God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who 
shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall 
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or fam- 
ine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? Nay, in 
all these things we are more than conquerors 
through Him that loved us. For I am per- 
suaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor pow T ers, nor things pres- 
ent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
nor any other creature, shall be able to sepa- 
rate us from the love of God, which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord." 

While, therefore, it is true, that it would be 
better for those who trust in themselves, and 
go back, a not to have known the way of right- 
eousness, than, after they have known it, to 
turn from the holy commandment;" yet let 
not this discourage jou or lead you to falter 
in your course. The same is true of baptism, 
of Christian education, of prayer, of the Bible, 
13 



154 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



of preaching, of alms, and of every other means 
of grace ; since all these will aggravate a man's 
guilt, misery, and condemnation, if "he fail of 
the grace of God," and trusts in them for 
acceptance, and does not "obey the truth." 
" The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination, 
yea, the ploughing of the wicked is sin." (Prov. 
xxi. 4.) " The thoughts and intents of their 
hearts are evil, and only evil, and that continu- 
ally." The only way, therefore, to avoid the 
curse and wrath of God against all the children 
of disobedience, is to enter upon the discharge 
of this and every other duty in the fear of the 
Lord, in dependence upon His Spirit, and look- 
ing to Him for grace and mercy to help you. 
And great as is the evil of coming to this duty 
in an improper, that is, a self-righteous or 
hypocritical spirit, vast are the advantages of a 
worthy reception, and blessed the consequences 
of a true and real communion with the Lord. 

Here there is a living cup — 

Wells of water, springing up 

Unto life, that cannot die — 

The pledge of immortality. 

'Tis a fount of heavenly strength — 

A sea of love, with length and breadth, 

Proportioned to an undying soul, 

Where all its powers in rapture roll. 






TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 155 



And here behold the sacrifice 

On which alone the soul can live, 
Higher than heaven its countless price, 

Its blessings more than earth can give. 
Fast as Christ's mighty hand supplies, 
The blessing multiplies, 
'Mid earthly vanities the bread of truth, 
And, 'mid decay and death, food of immortal youth. 

Nature smoothed her mournful brow, 
When she saw the gleaming bow 
Which compass'd round heaven's cloudy space, 
With its bright covenant of grace. 
And still as down heaven's cloudy stair, 
Comes that blest harbinger so fair, 
The earth, with incense breathing dew, 
Her veil of sorrow through, 
Looks tearfully to heaven, and grateful smiles anew. 

And as o'er flood-reviving earth, 

That witness stands in heaven secure ; 
Thus o'er our new and better birth, 
That sacramental sign is sure. 
Until the sun shall make his bed, 
And time be withered, 
This pledge of saving mercy shall remain, 
And none to Christ shall turn, and thither turn in vain. 

"For as oft as we eat this bread and drink 
this wine, we do show the Lord's death till He 
come.' , 

Therefore, in the strength of Christ, hold on 
thy way. Do not disobey Christ's authoritative 



156 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



command, or turn a deaf ear to His melting in- 
vitation, but " do this in remembrance of Him/ 
that being made worthy for it " by the imputa- 
tion of His righteousness, which is without works 
on your part," you may be made partaker also 
of His holiness and of " the inheritance of the 
saints in light." 

Come, then, to God in Christ, and as you 
accompany me with a pure heart and humble 
voice unto the throne of the heavenly grace, 
say after me : 

God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
to whom I have now yielded myself, according 
to Thy gracious warrant and mercy, I am sen- 
sible of the treachery and baseness of my own 
heart; but I am also acquainted with Thy 
power, and mercy, and faithfulness. Oh ! let 
me not rashly take up a profession, which I 
shall as hastily abandon, or never fully main- 
tain. 

Help me to understand the engagements I 
have undertaken, that I may count the cost, 
and not prove a foolish builder. Help me to 
consider the difficulties and disadvantages that 
attend religion, and the troubles to which it 
may expose me. And may I seriously consider. 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 157 



that I must "deny myself, and take up my 
cross, and follow Christ, if I would be His dis- 
ciple." 

Let none of these things, however, "move" 
me from my resolution. give me such near 
and affecting views of " the glory that is to be 
revealed," and of that "wrath and fiery indig- 
nation" which await the ungodly — so set death 
and judgment before me — and so impress me 
with a sense of the worth of my soul, and the 
emptiness of this world, that I may be fully 
determined to accept of Christ, and adhere 
to him through evil and through good report, 
and " count all things but loss for the excel- 
lency of the knowledge of Him." And 
may this be my unalterable persuasion ! Let 
me never turn aside, nor wander from Thee. 
Oh ! let me not wander from Thv command- 
ments ! Let me never, like an ungracious prodi- 
gal, forsake my father's house, or count his 
" meat" contemptible. never let me deny or 
forget that Jesus, whom I am so solemnly to 
acknowledge as "my Lord and my God!" 
Let the unclean devil never re-enter, and take 
possession of this soul, which I consecrate as a 
"temple to the Holy Ghost." I am full of 
13* 



158 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



fears, and have reason to be jealous of myself, 
but yet I am not void of hope ; nor have I any 
reason to distrust my God. Thy grace is suf- 
ficient for me. for " Thy name's sake, load 
me and guide me ; put Thy fear into my heart, 
that I may never depart from Thee." 

But, oh my God, while I would obey and 
come to thy table, let me not come " un- 
worthily." May I never " eat and drink judg- 
ment to myself." Deliver me from the dreadful 
guilt of " crucifying afresh, and putting to open 
shame" that Jesus whom I think my soul loves, 
and desires to remember, confess, and honor. 
Keep me from receiving poison from the richest 
food, and from coming for a blessing, and carrv- 
ing away a curse. And to this end enable me, 
by thy grace, to commit my soul into Christ's 
hand, to depend on Him for all I need ; and 
let His gracious Spirit help my infirmities, 
plead for me with groanings that cannot be 
uttered, bear witness with my spirit that I am 
a child of God, and strengthen me with all 
might in the inner man ; that I may thus hold 
fast the beginning of my confidence firm unto 
the end. Which I humbly ask for Jesus' sake. 
Amen. 











Janet Fraser. 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 159 



You may find encouragement, my dear 
reader, in coming to the Lord's table, not- 
withstanding many fears and misgivings, from 
the story of Janet Fraser's gift of a site for a 
Free Church, at Thornhill, Scotland. She was 
a very aged and poor woman, (earning about 
eighteen dollars in the course of a year,) who 
lived in that portion of the country in which 
the Lord of the soil was bitterly opposed to 
the Free Church, and had positively refused 
to sell or rent as much ground as would afford 
room for even one church. The adherents of 
the Free Church had, therefore, as in many 
other cases, to worship in the open air, on the 
sea shore, or wherever they could, amid all the 
inclemencies of the weather, and during the 
depth of winter. Janet, whose name will now 
go down to posterity as one of the founders of 
the Free Church, was in possession of a small 
piece of ground, an angle of which was within 
the prohibited soil. It was, however, her all. 
She greatly required it for herself and her own 
homestead, and she possessed all the prudence, 
forethought, and caution for which the Scotch 
are so justly commended. This property, which 
she had inherited from two maiden aunts, 



160 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



consisted of two small houses and a plot of 
ground. 

When a committee of the Free Church at 
Thornhill waited on Janet, to see if she would 
sell them her ground, she utterly refused to do 
so, because she said she had vowed to give it to 
God, and therefore it was only as a gift that she 
could part with it. In the meantime, an agent 
of the Duke of Buccleuch offered to purchase the 
ground. But Janet cut short all his overtures, 
by the noble reply, " She had devoted it to her 
Maker, and she wouldn't take five hundred 
pounds sterling, (or about $2,500,) no, nor all 
the Dukedom of Queensberry, for her ground, 
under a prohibition to give it to the Almighty." 
She gave it, therefore, to the Free Church, and 
upon it now stands the commodious Church of 
Thornhill. 

This resolution or vow of Janet, (who, by 
the way, is a poet and an authoress, and keeps 
a very full journal,) had its origin in a purpose 
which she formed at a sacramental occasion 
and as she regards it as an occurrence of " too 
serious a nature to have one flaw in it," we shall 
quote from her own MS. account. "I essay- 
ed," she says, "on the Friday before, to devote 




Janet Fraser's Cottage, and Thorn hill Free Church. 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 161 



myself to my Redeemer, soul, body, and spirit, 
with all I could claim as mine, to be at His 
service. I sat down at the Lord's table on 
Sabbath, when an old woman followed ; and 
when the bread came, she took her piece and 
laid the rest on a plate, which was handed down 
the tables. But in the discourse, before dis- 
tributing the elements, the minister repeated 
these words, quoted from Isaiah xliii. 1 : ' Thus 
saith the Lord that created thee, Jacob, and 
he that formed thee, Israel, Fear not : for I 
have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy 
name ; thou art mine.' I thought they entered 
my soul, and lifted it up in joy which I could 
hardly contain ; and when the bread passed, such 
fear came on me, as that I durst not lift it off the 
plate. I wished the cup might pass likewise, 
if I did not belong to God. I tasted the cup, 
but the minister observed I had missed the 
bread. He spoke to the elder who was carry- 
ing it back, that a person or persons had missed 
the bread. The elder offered it to a man who 
sat beside me, who said we had all eaten of it, 
when I replied, it was I who missed it ; so he 
gave me a piece. I admired the •providence, 
as much as the promise, and I have now need 



162 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



of them both. Lo, in all these things God 
oftentimes worketh with man, to bring back his 
soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the 
light of the living. God is good to Israel. " 

Such is her own simple account of her feel- 
ings. Like many — indeed we might say like all 
the children of God at times — she had been in a 
state of coldness, and dark misgiving. She " was 
in a strait betwixt two things.' ' She knew it was 
her duty to go to the communion, and that she 
ought to be in a suitable and proper frame of 
mind and heart, and yet such was not, as she 
feared, her condition, and therefore she was in 
dread of committing sin by coming to the table 
of the Lord. But still, as her state of coldness 
was a burden and a grief to her, and she anx- 
iously desired to be delivered from it, she ven- 
tured, like the poor woman in the gospel, to 
press forward through the crowd, so as to get 
as near her Saviour as she could, knowing that 
"if He would, He could make her whole,'' 
even though she could but touch, as it were, 
the hem of His garment, or have one ray of 
His life-giving countenance lifted upon her. 
This was faith walking in darkness and strug- 
gling in weakness. And it was rewarded. He 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 163 



who made whole the poor woman, " helped her 
infirmities and unbelief.' ' The desires of her 
heart were fulfilled. She saw the goodness of 
the Lord. She was lifted up out of her des- 
pondency. The shadows of night were scat- 
tered, and joy came in the morning of her fresh- 
dawning hopes. Her heart was filled also with 
love. Gratitude demanded an expression. She 
had received much, and she felt that she ought 
to give much. And, therefore, like the poor 
widow at the temple, who w r as commended by our 
Saviour because she " gave more than all the 
rest, inasmuch as she gave her all," Janet gave 
her all — her home, her patrimony, her " living." 
She gave what wealth could not buy, nor in- 
fluence secure, nor aristocratic pride any longer 
withhold. She gave unto the Lord a place 
where a sanctuary might be built, from which 
the praises of the Lord might ever ascend out 
of the hearts of His free and faithful followers. 
That house has been built — (singularly irregu- 
lar, indeed — so as to fill every portion of the 
lot, and thus accommodate as many worship- 
pers as possible,) but a perpetual memorial of 
the faithfulness and mercy of the Lord to them 
that seek Him, however dark and desponding 



164 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



may be their feelings, when they seek Him in 
the way of His promises and His ordinances, 
and with their whole heart. 

Oh, yes ! thus, and far better is God ever with 
His people than tongue can describe ; — better 
than their fears, and more merciful than all 
their hopes. Thus does the high and holy 
Saviour, who inhabiteth eternity, and the praises 
thereof, look down upon those that are of an 
humble and a contrite heart, " to revive the 
spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of 
the contrite ones." " The Spirit of the Lord is 
upon me," said the blessed Jesus, when on earth, 
" because he hath anointed me to preach the 
Gospel to the poor ; He hath sent me to heal the 
broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the 
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, 
and to set at liberty them that are bound. 
Behold my servant, whom I have chosen ; my 
beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased : I 
will put My Spirit upon him, and he shall 
show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not 
strive, nor cry ; neither shall any man hear his 
voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he 
not break, and smoking flax shall he not 
quench, till he send forth judgment unto vie- 



TO COME TO THE LORD S TABLE. 



tory. And in His name shall the Gentiles 
trust." 

Come to the table, then, my dear reader, re- 
lying upon Christ, and your hopes shall not be 
disappointed. Feed upon Him by faith, and 
then shall you experience the truth of that say- 
ing, " Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My 
blood, hath eternal life ; and I will raise him 
up at the last day. He that eateth My flesh, 
and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me and I 
in him." Come, believing in this unseen 
Saviour, heartily approving of the method which 
God has appointed for man's salvation, and 
then, " being justified by faith, you shall have 
peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
From your inmost soul, submit yourself to the 
plan of righteousness devised by God, and " re- 
joice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
by whom we have now received the atonement." 
Earnestly desire to " be found in Christ," hav- 
ing no other righteousness or ground of trust 
but " that which is through the faith of Christ, 
the righteousness which is of God by faith." 
Let it be the very foundation and corner-stone 
of your hope and confidence, that " Christ died 
for our sins," and was "made sin," that is, a 
14 



166 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



sin-offering " for us, that He might be made 
unto us of God righteousness, and that we might 
be made the righteousness of God in Him. 
Under the full consciousness of your own guilt 
and sinful infirmities, "behold the Lamb of 
God who taketh away the sin of the world," 
who "made His soul an offering for sin," and 
"put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself;" 
that "what the law could not do," God might 
do, by sending "His Son, in the likeness 
of sinful flesh and for sin, condemning sin in 
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law may 
be fulfilled in us." Christ, therefore, has "made 
peace by the blood of His cross," and "given 
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from 
all iniquity," so that we may "have no con- 
demnation," but be " freely justified from all 
things from which we could not be justified by 
the law," and be " purified unto Himself a pe- 
culiar people, zealous of good works." Let 
your prayer, therefore, be, Lord, I believe 
all these glad tidings, help thou mine unbelief. 
Lord, increase my faith, and perfect that which 
is lacking in it, that feeling its strength, I may 
not doubt its reality. 

Let your desire be toward this blessed Sa- 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 167 



viour, and your delight be in Him, and "love 
not in word, but in deed, and in truth." Come 
to Him, saying, " Whom have I in heaven but 
Thee, and there is none in all the earth that I 
desire beside Thee. Yea, doubtless, and I count 
all things but loss, for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord." Behold 
in your loving and all-merciful Redeemer, 
" the chief among ten thousand, and altogether 
lovely." Tell Him that you love Him. Say 
to Him, "Lo, thou knowest all things; thou 
knowest that I love Thee, and have chosen Thy 
testimonies as my heritage forever." Tell Him 
that you " are constrained by His love to live 
not unto yourself, but unto Him who loved you, 
and gave Himself for you;" — that you find 
" His yoke easy and His burden light ;" — that 
His commandments are not "grievous," and 
that it will be your delight to " follow the Lamb 
whithersoever He goes." As He says, "Ye 
are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command 
you," tell Him it will be your aim and purpose 
to "keep all His commandments and His stat- 
utes blameless." As He requires you to " love 
your neighbor as yourself and forgive enemies," 
ask Him to fill your heart with love and charity 



168 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



towards all men. And as we " hereby know 
that we have passed from death unto life, be- 
cause we love the brethren," see that ye tl love 
one another with a pure heart fervently." 

" But, my God," you may still say, " how 
weak and how imperfect is my love ! I even 
hate myself, that I can love Thee no more. I 
abhor myself, that I love thy Christ no better ; 
and blush to think that I am no more kindly 
affectioned to those whom Thou hast loved with 
an everlasting love, and with whom I hope to 
live and converse forever. 

" My only comfort is, that I would love Thee ; 
I desire to love Thee ; I long to love Thee, even 
as Thou wouldst be loved. Lord, kindle my 
spark into a flame, and let that flame be strong 
and steady, and especially grant that my obe- 
dience may prove my love to be of the right 
kind ; for how can I say I love Thee, if my 
heart be not right with Thee ? And for Thy 
sake, may I love my neighbor ; especially the 
happy members of that glorious family to which 
it is my highest honor to belong : may I love 
them as myself, and in honor prefer them be- 
fore myself, and think no office of love too mean 
for me to stoop to, in imitation of Him who 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 169 



came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. 
(Matt. xx. 28.) And Thou, blessed Saviour, 
who hast died that I might be ' cleansed from 
all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, and that 
Thou mightest perfect in me holiness in the 
fear of the Lord/ grant that I may be made 
' perfect in every good work to do Thy will,' 
and that I may be sanctified wholly, and my 
whole spirit, soul and body, be preserved blame- 
less, to the coming of our Lord." (1 Thess. 
v. 23.) 

Come, then, to the table of the Lord, in this 
spirit, and with these desires, and "you shall 
be filled, and your soul shall be satisfied." 
Here you may expect to have your faith 
strengthened by the sensible representation 
which is made of Christ, as both crucified and 
exalted. Here you may hope to have your love 
inflamed by the remembrance of that love (high 
as heaven, deep as hell, stronger than death, 
and endless as a past and coming eternity,) 
with which Christ hath loved you. Here your 
resolutions will be confirmed by the experience 
of His loving kindness and tender mercy. Here 
your mind will be spiritualized, by being set on 
things above, and seeing Him who is invisible. 
14* 



170 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING^ 



Here your whole spirit and conversation may 
be moulded by the grace and strength imparted 
unto you. Here your peace may flow as a river, 
and your joy be unspeakable and full of glory. 
Here you may be clothed in the whole armour 
of God, so that you may fight manfully the 
good fight of faith, be prepared for all the 
troubles of life, and made triumphant amid the 
agonies of death. 

You will feel as did Agnes Beaumont, the 
friend of Bunyan, who united with his church 
in 1672.* 

" There was a church-meeting at Gamlin- 
gay," she says, " and about a week before it, I 
was much in prayer, especially for two things — 
the one, that the Lord would incline the heart 
of my father to let me go, which he sometimes 
refused ; and, in those days, it was like death 
to be kept from such a meeting. I have found 
by experience, that to pray hard was the most 
successful method of obtaining my father's con- 
sent ; for when I have not thus prayed, I have 
found it very difficult to prevail. The other 
request was, that the Lord would go with me, 

*Read the beautiful and edifying Illustrated Life of 
Bunyan, recently issued by the A. S. S. U. p. 303 ; &c. 



TO COME TO TIIE LORD'S TABLE. 171 



and that I might enjoy his presence there at 
his table ; that, as in many times past, it might 
be a sealing ordinance to my soul ; and that I 
might have such a sight of a bleeding and dy- 
ing Saviour, as might melt my heart and en- 
large it in love to His name. 

" The Lord was pleased to grant my requests. 
Upon asking my father the day before, he 
seemed unwilling at first, but pleading with 
him, and telling him that I would do all my 
work in the morning before I went out, and 
return home at night, I gained his consent. 
Friday being come, I prepared every thing 
ready to set out. My father inquired who car- 
ried me. I told him I thought Mr. Wilson, of 
Hitchen, as he told my brother, the Tuesday 
before, he should call ; to which he said nothing. 
I went to my brother's and waited, expecting 
to meet Mr. "Wilson ; but he not coming, it cut 
me to the heart, and, fearing I should not go, 
I burst into tears ; for my brother had told me 
that his horses were all at work, and that he 
could not spare one more than what he and my 
sister were to ride on, and it being the depth 
of winter, I could not walk thither. 

" Now I was afraid that all my prayers on 



172 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



this account were lost ; my way seemed to be 
hedged up with thorns. I waited with many a 
longing look and a sorrowful heart, under my 
sad disappointment. Oh, thought I, that the 
Lord would but put it into the heart of some 
person to come this way ! Thus I still waited, 
but with my heart full of fears. At last, quite 
unexpected, came Mr. Bunyan. The sight of 
him caused a mixture both of joy and of grief. 
I was glad to see him, but afraid he would not 
be willing to take me up behind him, and how 
to ask him, I knew not. At length, I desired 
my brother to do it, which he did. But Mr. 
Bunyan answered, with some degree of rough- 
ness, f No ; I will not carry her.' These words 
were cutting, indeed, and made me weep bit- 
terly. 

" My brother, perceiving my troubles, said, 
' Sir, if you do not carry her, you will break 
her heart:' but he made the same reply, ad- 
ding, ' Your father would be grievous angry, if 
I should/ (A certain person in the neighbor- 
hood, one Mr. Farry, who is often referred to 
afterwards in this relation, had slandered Mr. 
Bunyan, and set her father against him, en- 
deavoring to make his vile calumnies pass for 



TO COME TO TIIE LORD'S TABLE. 173 



truth.) ' I will venture that/ said I. And thus, 
with much entreaty, he was prevailed on ; and 
oh, how glad was I to think I was going ! 

" I had not rode far, before my heart began 
to be lifted up with pride, at the thoughts of 
riding behind this servant of the Lord, and 
was pleased if any one looked after us, as we 
rode along. Indeed, I thought myself very 
happy that day : first, that it pleased God to 
make way for my going ; and then, that I 
should have the honor to ride behind Mr. Bun- 
yan, who would sometimes be speaking to me 
about the things of God. 

" The meeting began not long after we got 
thither; and the Lord made it a sweet season 
to my soul indeed. Oh, it was a feast of fat 
things ! I sat under his shadow with great 
delight. When at the Lord's table, I found 
such a return of prayer that I was scarcely 
able to bear up under it. I was, as it were, 
carried up to heaven, and had such a sight of 
the Saviour as even broke my heart in pieces. 
Oh ! how I then longed to be with Christ ! 
How willingly would I have died in the place, 
and gone immediately to glory ! A sense of 
my sins and of His dying love, made me love 



174 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



Him, and long to be with Him. I have often 
thought of his goodness in his remarkable visit 
to my soul that day ; but He knew the tempta- 
tions that I was to meet with the very same 
night and a few days after. I have seen the 
bowels of His compassion towards me in these 
manifestations of His love, before I was tried. 
This was infinite condescension indeed !" 

Thus may it be, and thus I trust it will be 
with you, my dear reader ; so that, being 
filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory, 
your heart, like Bunyan's being satisfied with 
comfort and hope, now you can say with 
him, I can now believe that my sins will be 
forgiven me ; yea, so taken with the love and 
mercy of God, as not to know how to contain 
yourself. 

"I thought," says Bunyan, "I could have 
spoken of His love, and told of His mercy to 
the very crows that sat upon the ploughed lands 
before me, had they been capable of under- 
standing me. Wherefore, I said to my soul, 
with much gladness, ' Well, would I had a pen 
and ink here, I would write this down before 
I go any farther/" 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 175 



Soft as falls the heavenly dew, 
"Weary nature to renew, 
Or the flakes, unearthly pure, 
Of the snowy coverture ; 
Thus too high for mortal sense, 
Christ His presence doth dispense, 
Seen in diviner sympathies, 
In sacred joys that rise, 
And waft the soul to heaven with rapture's sighs. 

Jesus hath left His flock below, 

And gone into the Mount to pray 
For His poor wanderers, left to go 

Without Him, on the stormy way. 
But when the tempest rageth high, 
With dread their fearful hearts to try, 
Their tearful eyes shall see Him nigh, 

Stilling the tempest into peace, 

Bidding all dark forebodings cease ; 
Shedding abroad His heavenly love, 
Inspiring hopes of joys above, 

Where soon upon the blissful shore, 
They from their Lord shall go on stormy waves no more. 



" Bless the Lord, my soul ; and all that is 
within me, bless His holy name. Bless the 
Lord, my soul, and forget not all His bene- 
fits : who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who 
healeth all thy diseases ; who redeemeth thy 
life from destruction ; who crowneth thee with 



176 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



loving-kindness and tender mercies ; who sat- 
isfieth thy mouth with good things ; so that 
thy youth is renewed like the eagles'. The 
Lord is merciful, and gracious, slow to anger, 
and plenteous in mercy. He will not always 
chide : neither will He keep his anger forever. 
He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor 
rewarded us according to our iniquities. For 
as the heaven is high above the earth, so great 
is His mercy towards them that fear Him. As 
far as the east is from the west, so far hath He 
removed our transgressions from us. Like as 
a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
them that fear Him. The mercy of the Lord 
is from everlasting to everlasting upon them 
that fear Him, and His righteousness unto 
children's children. Bless the Lord, ye H'\< 
angels, that excel in strength, that do His com- 
mandments, hearkening unto the voice of His 
word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts : 
ye ministers of His that do His pleasure. Bless 
the Lord, all His works, in all places of His 
dominion; bless the Lord, my soul." 

" What shall I render unto the Lord, for all 
His benefits towards me ? I will take the cup 
of salvation, and call upon the name of the 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 17 i 



Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now 
in the presence of all His people." 

ON THE COMMUNION AT CANONBIE, 

dispensed in July, 1844, by the Rev. Dr. Gordon, in a retired spot, 
where the congregation, who had hitherto been forced to worship on 
the high road, were on that occasion permitted by the Duke of Boc- 
deuch to meet. 

11 Do this," 'twas thus the Saviour spake, " iu memory of 

Me, 
Remembering Him who died for you upon th' accursed tree .: 
And ever when this bread ye break, and when this cup ye 

drink, 
Think of My blood poured forth, and of My broken body 

think. » 

O words of peace and comfort ! on the wounded soul how 

oft, 
Like balm have they descended, so soothingly and soft, 
When the Lord hath called his wearied ones aside to some 

green spot, 
Where all the toils of Life's highway might be awhile 

forgot ! 

And thus by His afflicted flock, His voice even now it 

heard, 
And by the thoughts of His great love, these thousand 

breasts are stirred ; 
For He into the wilderness hath lured them by His voice. 
That there He may speak peace to them, and bid their 

hearts rejoice. 

15 



178 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



And, surely such a scene as this remembrance well may 

wake 
Of Him, the meek and lowly One, who suffered for their 

sake — 
Of Him who was rejected and despised by mortal pride — 
Of Him who taught the multitudes upon the mountain 

side — 

And said : " Rejoice, when men revile and brand your 

names with scorn ; 
Rejoice in persecutions that for My name's sake are borne : 
Thus did they ever persecute the saints in days gone by, 
But be exceeding glad, for great is your reward on high. ?? 



Bound by a holy charm, 

We pass'd through raging sea, 

And 'neath a mighty arm 
Burst chains of slavery. 

Let us His praise unfold, 

Who our avenger came ; 
And, robed in pureness, bold 

The festal of the Lamb. 

He for our souls did bleed ; 

Oh, then, in holy love, 
Upon Him let us feed, 

And live to God above. 

Christ is our sacrifice, 

The Lamb come down from high, 
Death's angel dread descries 

His blood, and passes by. 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 179 



Oh, Victim, worthy heaven, 

Of death the victory ; 
Who chains of hell hath riven, 

And borne her gates away: 

From jaws of death's dark tomb, 
He bursts into the light, 

And opes beyond the gloom, 
The heavenly infinite. 

Grant us with Thee to die, 
That we, with Thee may rise, 

And build our home on high, 
With Thee, beyond the skies. 

Praise Father, praise the Son, 
Who leadst to starry homes ; 

Praise Spirit, three in One, 
From whom all mercy comes. 



Communion of my Saviour's blood, 
In Him to have my lot and part, 

To prove the virtue of that blood, 

Which burst on Calvary from His heart. 

To feed by faith on Christ, my bread, 

His body broken on the tree ; 
To live in Him, my living Head, 

Who died, and rose again, for me :— 

This be my joy and comfort here, 
This pledge of future glory mine ; 

Jesus, in spirit now appear, 

And break the bread, and pour the wine* 



180 THE TRUE BELIEVER PREPARING 



From Thy dear hand may I receive 
The tokens of Thy dying love ; 

And while I feast on earth, believe 
That I shall feast with Thee above. 

Ah ! here, though in the lowest place, 
Thee at Thy table may I meet, 

And see Thee, know Thee, face to face, 
For such a moment death were sweet. 

What, then, will their fruition be, 

Who meet in heaven with blest accord ? 

A moment ? — no, eternity ! 

They are forever with the Lord. 



In the hour of trial, 

Jesus, pray for me ; 
Lest, by base denial, 

I depart from Thee. 
When Thou seest me waver, 

With a look recall, 
Nor, for fear or favor, 

Suffer me to fall. 

With its witching pleasures, 

Would this vain world charm, 
Or, its sordid treasures, 

Spread, to work me harm ; 
Bring to my remembrance 

Sad Gethsemane, 
Or, in the darker semblance, 

Cross-crowned Calvary. 



TO COME TO THE LORD'S TABLE. 181 



If, with sore affliction, 

Thou in love chastise, 
Pour Thy benediction 

On the sacrifice ; 
Then, upon Thine altar, 

Freely offer'd up, 
Though the flesh may falter, 

Faith shall drink the cup. 

When, in dust and ashes, 

To the grave I sink, 
While heaven's glory flashes 

O'er the shelving brink, 
On Thy truth relying, 

Through that mortal strife, 
Lord, receive me, dying, 

To eternal life. 



15* 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE TRUE BELIEVER REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 
THE COMMUNION TABLE. 

What, my friend, are the ministers of Christ, 
ut whose hand you are now about to receive the 
emblems of our Saviour's love and passion? 
" Let a man," says the apostle, "so account 
of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards 
of the mysteries of God. Now, then, we are 
ambassadors for Christ, as though God did be- 
seech you by us ; we pray you, in Christ's 
stead, be ye reconciled to God." Were not 
this exalted office so distinctly and unequivo- 
cally delineated and enjoined, it would be the 
very height of unpardonable and blasphemous 
presumption in any man to assume such a posi- 
tion between the high and holy Sovereign of 
the universe, and His accountable and guilty 
creatures. But such being the duties which 
ministers are called upon to discharge, in de- 
pendence upon the gracious guidance and help 



REMEMBERING CHRIST, ETC. 183 



of our adorable Redeemer, it would be pre- 
sumption in them to shrink from it, or, under 
a plea of affected modesty, to make themselves 
prominent, and allow personal considerations 
to hinder them from boldly and faithfully hold- 
ing forth the word of life. Especially is this 
true on such an occasion as that of the com- 
munion, when the King himself comes near, 
that He may hold intercourse with those who 
have chosen Him as their Redeemer. Here, 
especially, let the minister remember that he 
is in Christ's stead, as though God did beseech 
his hearers by them. In this spirit let him 
persuade and entreat them to be " reconciled 
to God/' And in this spirit, also, do you, 
dear reader, come to the table of the Lord. 
He is himself present to bless you, and to do 
you good. Let, then, all thoughts of His min- 
isters be banished from your mind, and let 
Christ himself speak to you on that occasion, 
when He will afford you the opportunity of 
celebrating this feast of love. It was on the 
same night in which He was betrayed, that 
Christ took bread, and gave thanks, and brake 
it, and gave unto His disciples, saying, " This 
do in remembrance of me." " Likewise, also," 



184 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



did He bless and give to them the cup. And 
what He did with the twelve apostles, He does 
also with all His disciples to the end of the 
world, " For/' says the apostle Paul, " I have 
received of the Lord that which also I delivered 
unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night 
in which He was betrayed, took bread : and, 
when He had given thanks, He brake it, and 
said, Take, eat ; this is my body, which is broken 
for you : this do in remembrance of me. After 
the same manner, also, He took the cup, when 
He had supped, saying, This cup is the new 
testament in My blood : this do ye, as oft as 
ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as 
often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, 
ye do show the Lord's death till he come." 

Such is the Lord's Supper. It is the Lord's. 
Christ is the beginning, middle, and end of it. 
Christ is its author and finisher. His finished 
work is its foundation, and the object of its- 
commemoration, the antitype of which it is a 
type, the thing signified by its sign, the bless- 
ing secured by its seals, and appropriated by 
their reception — the hope set before us. Christ 
and Him crucified is, therefore, the sum and 
substance, the alpha and omega, the first and 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 185 



the last, of this most solemn and endearing 
of all the ordinances. 

Christ Himself is present. He is the bread 
of heaven, the living water, the new and heav- 
enly wine. His presence, spirit and power 
impart life and reality to the scene, and divine, 
quickening virtue to the feast itself. Virtue 
goes out of Christ, and gives infinite value and 
unspeakable sweetness to the elements, in them- 
selves carnal. 

Born for us, and for us given, 

Of a virgin undenled, 
Scattering wide the seeds of heaven. 

Sojourned He on this world's wild; 
And on that remembered even, 

His appointed course fulfilled. 

Meekly to the law complying, 

He had finished its commands, 
And to them, at supper lying, 

Gave Himself, with His own hand, 
This memorial of His dying, 

To every age, to every land. 

'Tis His grace to our receiving, 

Makes the bread His flesh to be ; 
And the wine, our sins relieving 

Blood, from every sin to free ; 
Though not seeing, yet believing, 

Christ reveals the mystery. 






186 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



To the smitten rock then fleeing,. 

Drink we the New CoYenant, 
Which, to ancient types agreeing,. 

To the latest times is sent. 
Still believing, though not seeing,. 

Christ in His own Sacrament. 

In faith, then, coming to the feast.,. 

There present to the heart. 
Not to the hands, the Eternal Priest 

Will His true self impart. 

"This do," says Christ, "in remembrance 
of Me." This do, because, in the first place, 
this is an ordinance which I appointed for My 
own glory, for your comfort, and as a means 
of establishing, preserving, and perpetuating 
My church. " For as oft as ye eat this bread, 
and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's 
death" — make a proclamation of, and attest your 
faith in, the great fact and doctrine of My vica- 
rious death, for the atonement of sin and the re- 
demption of sinners — till I come again at the 
great day of My appearing, "to judge the quick 
and the dead." "He that believeth" in Me, as 
an atoning Mediator, and as an almighty and 
all-sufficient Redeemer, will then be saved 
" from the wrath that is to come;" while "ho 
that believeth not" shall then be as assuredly 



THE COMMUNION TABLE, 187 



damned. " For the Lord Jesus shall be revealed 
from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming 
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not 
God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with ever- 
lasting destruction from the presence of the 
Lord, and from the glory of His power, when 
He shall come to be glorified in His saints, 
and to be admired in all them that believe, in 
that day." 

Dear reader, " Do you then believe in Me ?"" 
This is the language which Christ in this ordi- 
nance addresses to you. "Do you," He says, 
44 believe that I am the Son of God, the Saviour 
of the world, besides whom there is none else, 
who am able to save to the uttermost all that 
come unto Me by faith? If you do, then 
' do this in remembrance of Me.' Do you now 
receive Me as your Saviour in particular^ and 
not merely as ' the Saviour of all men/ and 
do you believe on me in your heart ? — then 
come near unto Me at this time, and ' do this 
in remembrance of Me.' Do you put your 
trust — your hope for acceptance with God, and 
for every spiritual blessing, on that 'work 
which the Father gave Me to do,' and which. 



188 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



I finished when I 'gave up the ghost/ as 'a 
curse and a sin-offering' upon the cross, and 
do you do this, believing that ' God is in Christ 
reconciling sinners unto Himself, and not im- 
puting unto them the guilt of their trespasses, 
but the merit of Christ's righteousness, so that 
being justified by faith, they may have peace 
with God ?' — then ' do this in remembrance 
of Me. 5 Do you fear, and tremble, and stand 
in doubt, when you look to your own heart. 
your own feelings, and your own inability ? 
and do you feel that all ' your wisdom is fool- 
ishness,' all 'your strength weakness,' and 
* all your goodness but as the morning cloud 
and the early dew, that soon vanishes away?" 
— then come here, and ' do this in remembrance 
of Me.' Do you realise that this duty takes 
precedence of every other obligation, and that 
privilege transcends immeasurably every other ? 
— then come, and with a full, a thankful, and 
grateful heart, 'do this in remembrance of 
Me.' Do you feel that whereas you were once 
too proud to have Me to reign over you, too 
much ashamed to be thought religious, too 
worldly to care for spiritual things, and too 
carnally-minded to be willing to give up the 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 189 



pleasures and vanities and gaieties of the world, 
you are now able to rejoice in being My dis- 
ciple, and to find pleasure and delight in keep- 
ing My ordinances and commandments blame- 
less — then "do this in remembrance of Me." 
For you, and such as you, I have appointed 
this feast, and to you it is that I would ever 
give a welcoming invitation. 

Oh, bless'd, bless'd is every one 

AVho to the marriage-feast 
And holy supper of the Lamb, 

Is made a welcome guest. 

II. But, secondly, let Me, says Christ, ask 
you to do this in remembrance, that is. in com- 
memoration of what I am, and in attestation of 
your belief in My divinity. " Whom clo men say 
that I am?" "Why, my Lord," you may re- 
ply, "men are very much divided in their sen- 
timents respecting thee. Some denounce thee 
as an impostor, some regard thee but as one 
of the prophets, while others again consider 
that thou art exalted among the angels and 
other high intelligences." " But whom," asks 
Christ again, " do you say that I am ?" And 
what can you answer and say, but what Peter 
said — " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
16 



190 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



living God." Yes, Lord, we know Thee 
who Thou art, the Son of God. And to 
you, Jesus answers you, even as He did to 
Simon, " Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood 
hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father 
who is in heaven ; for no man can come unto 
Me except My Father draw him, and no man 
can call Me Lord, and trust in Me as such, 
except by the Holy Ghost." 

When God revealed Himself to Moses, He 
said, " I AM that I am ;" " and he said, thus 
shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM 
hath sent me unto you." This God did, to 
teach the eternity and immutability of His 
divine essence, and that all existing beings were 
created and sustained by Him, and derived 
their life from His. Remember, therefore, what 
I also said unto you while I was yet with you in 
the flesh, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, before 
Abraham was, I am ; and ye shall see the Sox 
OF Man sitting at the right hand of power, and 
coming in the clouds of heaven;" and how 
again I revealed myself to John in my last 
communication to the world, saying, " I am 
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end- 
ing, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 191 



and which is to come, the Almighty." Even, 
therefore, as I then declared, so would I have 
you now remember, that, " as the Father hath 
life in Himself, so hath He given unto the Son 
to have life in Himself;" " that all men should 
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." 
" You believe in God," that He is self-existent, 
immutable, eternal, omniscient, and omnipo- 
tent ; " believe also in Me, that I and the 
Father are one;" one in substance and equal 
in power ; and, therefore, that I am equally 
entitled to the glory and the homage of every 
creature ; for, " in the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word 
was God." " The Lord possessed Me in the 
beginning of His way before His works of 
old. I was set up from everlasting, from the 
beginning, or ever the earth was. When there 
were no depths, I was brought forth; when 
there were no foundations abounding with water. 
Before the mountains were settled, before the 
hills, was I brought forth. While as yet He 
had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the 
highest part of the dust of the world. When 
He prepared the heavens, I was there ; when 
He set a compass upon the face of the deep ; 
when He established the clouds above ; when 



192 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



He strengthened the foundations of the deep ; 
when He gave to the sea His decree, that the 
water should not pass His commandment ; 
when He appointed the foundations of the 
earth. Then I w T as with Him, as one brought 
up with Him ; and I was daily His delight, 
rejoicing always before Him." 

Then it was that " I was in the form of God, 
and thought it no robbery to be equal with 
God." Then it was, that in the counsels of 
eternity — " the counsel of peace that was be- 
tween them both," — " God saw that there was 
no man, and wondered that there was no inter- 
cessor, therefore, His arm brought salvation 
unto Him." Then it was that God said, "I 
will declare the decree. Thou art my Son, 
this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and 
I will give thee the heathen (that is, the Gen- 
tiles,) for thine inheritance, and the uttermost 
parts of the earth for thy possession. " Re- 
member, then, all this, that when you come to 
this table, you may come to one who, while He 
" was formed in fashion as a man," was, at the 
same time, "in the form of God;" — who is, 
" Immanuel, God with us," " God manifest in 
the flesh ;" — and who is, therefore, " the mighty 
God," "mighty to save," yea, "able to save, 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 193 



to the very uttermost, all that come unto Him 
by faith." " Do this, therefore," says Christ, 
" in remembrance of what I am" " the great 
God, and your Saviour." 

The Word, who ever sits at God's right hand, 
From the bright palace of eternity, 

Went forth unto His work 

At solemn even-tide. 
As time drew near that His own chosen friend 
Should yield Him to His envious enemies, 

He gave Himself, e'en like 

An offered sacrifice, 
Gave Himself to his own, with His own hands — 
A two-fold offering of both flesh and blood, 

That so the double gift 

Might the whole man sustain. 

When born, He was himself their guide and friend, 
When eating with them, was Himself their food; 

In dying paid their price, 

Reigning is their reward. 
Lord, who didst a willing victim die, 
Open for us the long-closed doors of heaven, 

Griefs on all sides oppress, 

Strengthen and grant us aid. 
Thou who Thy sheep dost feed with Thine own flesh, 
Good Shepherd, unto Thee, with Father blest, 

And Spirit evermore, 

All glory be to Thee.* 

* An ancient Hymn: 

16* 



194 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



III. But, in the third place, " Do this," 
says Christ, "in remembrance" of what I 
became, in order to purchase eternal redemp- 
tion for you. It was when there was no other 
eye that could pity, and no other arm that 
could bring salvation, and when the violated 
and injured throne of God demanded vin- 
dication before His universal empire, that 
Christ said, as it is written in the volume 
of God's everlasting decrees, " Lo, I come 
to do Thy will, God." Then it was that in 
order that God might "reconcile us unto Him- 
self, and give to us the ministry of reconcilia- 
tion," and that "peace and good-will might be 
proclaimed on earth," that Christ "being in 
the form of God, and thinking it no robbery to 
be equal with God, made Himself of no repu- 
tation, and took upon Him the form of a ser- 
vant, and was made in the likeness of men, 
and being found in fashion as a man, humbled 
Himself, and became obedient unto death, even 
the death of the cross." He who was "God 
over all, and blessed for ever," "was despised 
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and ac- 
quainted with grief; he was despised, and we 
esteemed him not. He was oppressed, and he 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 195 



was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth ; 
he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and 
as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he 
opened not his mouth ; he was taken from prison 
and from judgment, and he was cut off out of 
the land of the living, and made his grave with 
the wicked." Yea, though "he had done no 
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, 
yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him ; He put 
him to grief; and he was numbered with the 
transgressors.'' 

Now, "do this," says Christ, "in remem- 
brance of" all this. Remember all I did and 
suffered in the flesh, from the first to the last 
hour of that period of mysterious humiliation 
and abasement ; how in infancy I was found a 
child of poverty ; how, even in childhood, I 
became a wanderer and an exile ; how the 
children in the market-place publicly hooted 
at and mocked me, as "a glutton and wine- 
bibber;" how I "came even to my own, 
and my own received me not;" how I went 
about in deserts and cities, having no certain 
dwelling-place, nor even where to lay my head; 
how I endured such continual "contradiction 
of sinners against myself;" and how, after 



196 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



"going about doing good/' and "fulfilling all 
righteousness," I was, "by wicked hands/' by- 
perjured and suborned witnesses, by an intimi- 
dated and unjust judge, and by the bitter mal- 
ice of ungodly foes, " crucified and slain." So 
unparalleled were my sufferings, that "I was 
a worm and no man ; a reproach of men, and 
despised of the people. All they that saw me 
laughed me to scorn ; they shot out the lip, 
they shook the head. I was poured out like 
water ; and all my bones were out of joint ; my 
heart was like wax ; it was melted in the midst 
of my bowels, and I was brought into the dust 
of death. The assembly of the wicked men en- 
closed me. They parted my garments among 
them, and cast lots upon my vesture." "Is it 
nothing to all you that pass by ? Behold and 
see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, 
which was done unto me, wherewith the Lord 
afflicted me in the clay of His fierce anger." 

And wherefore? — Christ, in this ordinance 
does as it were say to you, — was I thus afflicted ? 
Surely I have borne your griefs, and carried 
your sorrows. I was wounded for your trans- 
gressions, and bruised for your iniquities. The 
chastisement of your peace was upon Me, and 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 197 



with My stripes you are healed. The Lord 
laid on Me the iniquity of you all. For the 
transgression of My people was I stricken, for 
I bore their iniquities. For God made Me, 
who knew no sin, to be sin for you, that ye 
might be made the righteousness of God in 
Me. 

"Do this," then, "in remembrance of " these 
things. See in the bread and wine, in the 
bread broken and the wine poured out, and 
in the administration of each to every com- 
municant, the evidence, the certainty, and 
the awfulness of your guilt, ruin and coming 
misery ; the dreadfulness of perdition ; and 
the infinite difficulties wdiich lay in the way 
of your possible salvation. * Remember this, 
that you may be more deeply convinced 
of sin, and humbled in the dust of penitence 
and self-abasement ; that you may properly 
understand, and duly estimate, the nature and 
extent of My humiliation, sufferings, and death, 
and your consequent duty and privilege ; and 
that, comprehending more of the mystery of 
godliness, and the unspeakable love of God, 
you may put away all fear, all shame, and all 
lukewarmness, and " glory only in the cross. 



198 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



whereby you are crucified unto the world, and 
the world is crucified unto you." 

He, who on earth as man was known, 

And bore our sins and pains, 
Now, seated on th' eternal throne, 

The God of glory reigns ! 

His hands the wheels of nature guide, 

With an unerring skill ; 
And countless worlds, extended wide, 

Obey His sovereign will. 

While harps unnumberd sound His praise, 

In yonder world above, 
His saints on earth admire His ways, 

And glory in His love. 

His righteousness, to faith reveal'd, 

Wrought out for guilty worms, 
Affords a hiding place, and shield, 

From enemies and storms. 

When troubles, like a burning sun, 

Beat heavy on their head, 
To this high rock His people run, 

And find a pleasing shade. 

How glorious He! — how happy they — 

In such a glorious friend ! 
Whose love secures them all the way, 

And crowns them at the end. 

IV. But, in the fourth place, " Do this, Christ 
says, in remembrance of Me," — that is, in order 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 199 



that you may be led to the lively faith of what I 
now am. " The cup has now passed from Me." 
The work of humiliation "is now finished." 
The last enemy is subdued, and will be finally de- 
stroyed. Many were the foes that opposed My 
victory and your redemption ; but I have "led 
captivity captive," triumphed over them in My 
cross, accomplished "a complete redemption," 
and " brought in an everlasting righteousness." 
God's law demanded satisfaction, and I "mag- 
nified it." God's attributes required atone- 
ment, and I drank the cup even to the very 
dregs. The wrath of God was revealed from 
heaven against all transgressors ; and against 
me it was that God said, "Awake, sword, 
against My Shepherd, and against the Man 
that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts;" 
yea, even when Thou, God, had forsaken 
Me, even then did I not forsake you, helpless, 
guilty, and undone sinner. The world, the 
flesh, and the devil were all against you; "but 
this is the victory that overcometh" them all, 
" even faith" in Me ; for " your life is hid with 
Christ in God." Guilt alarms you with the 
apprehension of coming wrath; but "who will 
lay any thing to your charge ? seeing it is God 



200 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



that justifieth." Satan whispers, that after all 
you shall be condemned ; but " who is he that 
condemneth ? seeing it is Christ that died, yea, 
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the 
right hand of God, who also maketh interces- 
sion." Fear, and doubt, and unbelief, lead 
you to tremble, lest you fall away from your 
steadfastness ; but " if God be for you, who can 
be against you ?" And " He that spared not 
his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, 
how shall he not with him also freely give you 
all things ?" 

" I still live ; and because I live, ye shall 
live also." "It was needful for you that I 
should go away," and be no longer with you ; 
but "I have not left you comfortless. I have 
given you another Comforter, even the Spirit 
of truth, who glorifies Me;" and "Lo, I also 
am with } 7 ou always, even unto the end of the 
world." "All power is given unto Me in 
heaven and on earth ; and I am Head over all 
things to the church." I am now " a Prince 
and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission 
of sins ;" and I " ever live to make intercession 
for the ungodly." "I have not left you as 
orphans in the world," nor handed you over to 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 201 



any earthly church or ministry. " I am still 
the vine, and ye are the branches;" "I am 
the living Head, and ye are the members." 
lam" that Head from whom the whole body 
fitly joined together maketh increase of the 
body unto the edifying of itself in love." I 
"ascended up far above all heavens," that I 
might fill all things with My presence, uphold 
all things by My power, and make all things 
work together for the good of My church and 
people. 

Remember, therefore, who, and what, and 
where, I now am, and "let not your hearts be 
troubled, neither let them be afraid." " Who 
is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, 
yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at 
the right hand of God, who also maketh inter- 
cession for us. Who shall separate us from 
the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, or dis- 
tress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, 
or peril, or sword ? As it is written, For thy 
sake we are killed all the clay long; we are 
accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, 
in all these things we are more than conquer- 
ors, through Him that loved us. For I am 
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor 
17 



202 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be 
able to separate us from the love of God, which 
is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

"Do this," then, in remembrance of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, — 

Jesus ! who once a child of woe, 
Wept, bled, and suffered here below, 

And deigned for men to die ! 
Jesus ! to praise whose matchless name 
Ten thousand glorious seraphs frame 

The chorus of the skies. 

Jesus ! who made this ponderous earth. 
Who gave yon splendid planets birth, 

And formed each lesser star. 
Jesus ! who fills creation's throne, 
Yet stoops to mediate for His own, 

At Heaven's eternal bar. 

Jesus ! of whom the prophets tell, 
Who death disarms, and conquers hell, 

And bids the tempter flee. 
Jesus ! who hears the contrite sigh, 
Who wipes the tear from sorrow's eye, 

And sets the prisoners free. 

This is the theme which angels love, 
When through the radiant courts abore 
Their loudest anthem rings ; 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 203 



When every heart, and every tongue, 
And every golden harp is strung, 
To praise the King of kings. 

V. But, once more, "Do this," says Christ, 
"in remembrance of" My presence with you 
on every communion occasion. I said to My 
disciples, while yet with them, " I will not any 
more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the 
kingdom of God," — that is, until the kingdom 
of God shall come. But that kingdom is now 
come. As often, therefore, as you eat of this 
bread, and drink of this cup, "is it not the 
communion of My body and of My blood?" 
seeing that " I am with you to bless you, and 
to do you good." This, then, is My supper. 
This is My banqueting-chamber, and " My ban- 
ner over you is love." When I promised to 
meet My disciples, and to bless them, I fulfilled 
all their expectations, and "their sorrow was 
turned into joy." Believe Me, therefore, when 
I say that " you will see Me also, and your 
heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall 
take from you, for I will show you plainly of 
the Father." Remember what the disciples 
were, and what, through My "grace strength- 
ening them," they became. How many are 



204 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



there now in heaven, if thou canst tell ? — even 
"a multitude which no man can number." 
And " whence came they ?" Did they not come 
"through much tribulation," and many tempta- 
tions, doubts, and fears ? And were they not 
" made more than conquerors" over sin, fear, 
doubt, death and hell, " through the blood of 
the Lamb?" Now, what they were, you, it is 
true, now are — poor, miserable, blind, naked, 
and driven from wave to wave of trouble, fear, 
and doubt. And what they now r are, it is equally 
true, you may be ; and if you will only believe, 
hope, trust, and obey Me, you will be. Have 
you ever backslidden ? — Remember Peter, that 
like him, you may now turn and look upon Me 
whom you have pierced, and weep and be for- 
given. Have you been unbelieving ? — Remem- 
ber Thomas, that like him, seeing Christ "evi- 
dently crucified before you and slain," you may 
cry out, " My Lord and my God." Have you 
been cold and lukewarm ? — Let " My love con- 
strain you," so that "though now you see Me 
not, yet believing, you may rejoice with joy 
unspeakable and full of glory." Have you 
been afraid to hope and rejoice ? — " thou of 
little faith ; wherefore dost thou doubt ?" What 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 205 



have you to do but believe, seeing "that all the 
promises are yea and amen in Me," and that 
" I am yours." Can you then doubt my ability, 
or deny my willingness ? " Sooner may the 
heavens and the earth pass away, than one jot 
or tittle of all that I have promised remain un- 
fulfilled." Doubt then no more. Be fearful 
and unbelieving no longer. " Remember Me." 
Think not of your sins, except to remember 
that "My blood cleanseth from all sin." Think 
not of your weakness, except to " glory in your 
infirmities," since "when you are weak then 
are you strong." Think not of your hard and 
stony heart, except to mourn over it, and 
to bring it unto me, that I may soften and 
make it a heart of flesh. You have looked 
forward to the communion occasion, and to 
your participation in its solemn services, 
as something awful, but " remember Me." 
"Fear not, it is I." "Come unto me, you 
that thus labor, and I will give you rest. Come 
near that I may embrace you in my arms of 
mercy; that I may fill you w T ith joy; shed 
abroad my love in you ; and that I may enable 
you to feel that it is none other than the house 
of God, and the very gate of heaven." " Eat, 
17* 



206 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



friend ; drink, yea, drink abundantly, be- 
loved." "Hitherto you have asked nothing 
in my name ; ask and you shall receive, that 
your joy may be full. Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father 
in my name, He will give it you." 

"Do this, then, in remembrance of Me;" 
and "if you love me, keep my commandments ;" 
" for hereby is my Father glorified, if you bear 
much fruit." Remember, therefore, that I died 
for your impenitent friends as well as for you, 
and that it is for My glory as well as their 
good, that they also should be saved. Remem- 
ber that I "gave my life a ransom for all," 
and as " a propitiation for the whole world," 
and " go ye therefore into all the world, and 
preach my gospel to every creature." Remem- 
ber that "my kingdom is not of this world," 
and is entrusted, therefore, to the zeal, liber- 
ality, self-denial, and self-sacrifice of its mem- 
bers ; and as you have " freely received, freely 
give." Be willing to communicate and ready 
to distribute, that by your liberality, and ac- 
tivity, and devotion, the Gospel " may have free 
course, and be glorified." And remember how 
opposed the world is both to Me and to you, 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 207 



and how as it hated Me it will hate you also. 
"Walk, therefore, in wisdom towards them that 
are without," " that wisdom may be justified of 
her children," " and that they may be ashamed 
who speak evil of your good conversation in 
Christ." Be very jealous, therefore, for My 
honor, and for your own usefulness, and " watch 
and pray, lest you fall into the snares of the 
devil," and the Gospel, through your coldness, 
dishonesty, covetousness, or unchristian con- 
duct, be blasphemed. 

Up, Christians, up ! the Saviour calls, 

The work brooks no delay ; 
On you the sacred duty falls, 

To preach the Gospel day : 
And many must run to and fro, 
Ere knowledge like an ocean flow. 

Up, Christians, up ! the moments fly ; 

And while you count the cost, 
Ten thousand sinners round you die, 

And are forever lost ! 
Can these the realms of darkness fill, 
And you be reckoned guiltless still? 

Up, Christians, up ! the field is wide, 

And white with ripen'd grain ; 
Forth to the labor, side by side, 

A faithful, vigorous train : 
Your Master's high approval win, 
And bring the Gospel harvest in. 



208 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



Vic Finally, says Christ, Do this in remem- 
brance of what I will yet be and do for you. I will 
come again, the second time, to judge the world 
in righteousness. As oft, therefore, as ye eat 
this bread and drink this wine, ye do show the 
Lord's death till he come, " looking for the 
glorious hope and that blessed appearing of the 
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." 
" The harvest is the end of the world. As, 
therefore, the tares are gathered and burned 
in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. 
The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, 
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all 
things that offend, and them which do iniquity, 
and shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there 
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then 
shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in 
the kingdom of their Father." (Matth. xiii. 
89-43.) 

And as, after death, there is to every man 
that judgment, which anticipates the judgment 
of the great day, "what manner of persons 
ought we to be in all holy conversation and 
godliness, looking for and hastening unto the 
coming of the day of God ;" " for we must all 
appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 209 



every one may receive the tilings done in his 
body, according to that he hath done, whether 
it be good or bad." (2 Cor. v. 10.) Remember, 
that as I must " judge the world in righteous- 
ness," this judgment " must begin at the house 
of God." While, therefore, I am "merciful 
and gracious, slow to anger, and of great kind- 
ness," while I am not "willing that any should 
perish, but that all should turn unto Me and 
live," and while I "will in nowise cast out any" 
" that come unto me, however weary and heavy 
laden;" nevertheless, remember that my "eyes 
are as a flame of fire," to detect the hypocrite 
and the formalist. I cannot "look upon sin 
but with abhorrence," nor "pass by transgres- 
sion" with impunity. And, therefore, if "the 
righteous," or any who are professedly such, 
" commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall 
not be remembered ; but for his iniquity that 
he hath committed, he shall die for it." Re- 
member, then, that there is such a thing as 
"the form of godliness," where there is not 
" the power," and "a name to live" while there 
is only death. If " any man then who is called 
a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an 
idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an ex- 



210 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



tortioner," I will put away from me "that 
wicked person." Do you "forsake the assem- 
bling of yourself together' ' w T ith my disciples, 
" as the manner of some is;" do you "forget 
to entertain strangers;" do you "love this 
present world ;" do you "love father or mother, 
or houses or lands, more than me;" do you 
" restrain prayer before God ;" do you " forget 
God" in your family ; do you live unto yourself 
and not unto Me, "who died for you?" — then 
forget not that " in the day when I shall be 
revealed from heaven with my mighty angels, 
in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that 
know not God, and that obey not the gospel of 
our Lord Jesus Christ," — you "run fearful 
hazard of being punished with everlasting 
destruction from the presence of the Lord, 
and from the glory of his power, when He 
shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to 
be admired in all them that believe, (because 
our testimony among them was believed,) in 
that day," when He will "pour out His fury 
upon the Heathen and upon all that call not 
upon His name, and when all who love not the 
Lord Jesus Christ shall be anathema marana- 
tha." 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 211 



Remember, then, dear reader, what Christ 
says to j^ou. Remember Him in what He was, 
what He became, what He did, what He is, and 
what He will be. How terrible is He as an 
enemy, and how estimable is He as a friend ! — 
a friend always at hand, able and willing to 
help, able and ready to advise, and able and 
ready to protect. His grace is sufficient for 
every trial, and His strength adequate to every 
weakness; and you may come with boldness to 
His throne of grace, in the assurance that you 
shall there obtain grace and mercy in every 
time of need. Let past experience embolden 
and encourage you to do this in humble, cheer- 
ful, and joyful remembrance of Him, by whose 
grace you have come thus far. Here devote 
yourself to Him, and implore his grace, that 
you may strive even until death shall terminate 
your labors in rest and peace and joy. 

Such, then, being the nature of the Lord's 
Supper, it is at once apparent that it is the 
most holy, solemn, and spiritual service in which 
man can engage. It brings us into the very 
presence-chamber of the King of Saints, there 
to hold converse and communion with the Lord 
that bought us. 



212 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



How sweet and awful is the place ! It is 
none other than the house of God, and the very- 
gate of heaven. It is holy ground. Holiness 
alone becometh it. To all profane and unbe- 
lieving despisers it is as a consuming fire. Let 
all such keep back, and draw not hither till 
they put off the old man with his deceitful lusts, 
and put on the new man, which, after God, is 
created in righteousness and true holiness. 
" For my own part," said Calvin, when required 
by the Council and Senate to admit Bertelier 
to the communion, u after the example of Chry- 
sostom, I avow that I will suffer ni3 7 self to be 
slain at the table, rather than allow this hand 
to deliver the sacred symbols of the Lord's body 
and blood to adjudged despisers of God." This 
was uttered with such authority, and produced 
such an effect, that Perrin, the President, him- 
self immediately whispered to Bertelier that 
he must not present himself as a communicant. 
He accordingly withdrew ; and the sacred ordi- 
nance, says Beza, " was celebrated with a pro- 
found silence, and under a solemn awe in all 
present, as if the Deity himself had been vis- 
ible among them." Yes, the Deity is present, 
really present. " There am I," says Christ; 
" Lo, I am with you always." 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 213 



Our Lord unseen, yet ever near, 

His presence makes us feel 
That we inspired with holy fear, 

May reverently kneel. 

Our communion, therefore, is a personal ap- 
proach to a personal and present Saviour. Be- 
lieving in God, we believe also in Him. 

AVe need not now ascend the heavens, 
To bring our blessed Saviour down ; 

Here every heart His face enlivens, 
He is himself his banquet's crown ; 

To every faithful soul appears, 

And shows His real presence here. 

Yes, my dear reader, this is not merely a 
commemoration — it is a communion. The King 
is among His guests. He comes in and abides 
with them, and sups with them. But He comes 
down as a deliverer — a Saviour — a Sanctifier, 
and a Comforter, to all that mourn in Zion — 
to all that look for His appearing, and to all 
that come unto Him, "desiring to see Jesus," 
and to be " healed of their sins." And as the 
elements evidently set before us Jesus Christ and 
Him crucified, and as every act of the minister 
represents Christ, in His gracious and conde- 
scending presence and power, a very present 
help and hope — so also does every act of the 
18 



214 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



communicant imply a personal faith in this pre- 
sent Saviour, love to Him, coming to Him, and 
appropriation of Him as a living, loving, all- 
seeing, and all-sufficient Saviour. 

In coming then to the communion, endeavor 
to realize all that Christ here teaches, offers, 
promises, and pledges to you as a poor, needy, 
helpless sinner. Come to Him as such. Come 
as really desiring and requiring all that is here 
signified, signed and sealed. 

Come, that your soul may know 

The blessings of Christ's love, 
The streams that through the desert flow, 

The manna from above. 

Come, and relying on His word, 

Be filled with heavenly food ; 
Your meat, the body of the Lord, 

Your drink, His precious blood. 

Come, and His commands obey, — 

Say, now, God, I'm thine, 
And go rejoicing on your way, 

Renewed with strength divine. 

Come to meet Christ now, that you may be 
prepared to meet Him and to lean on Him all 
through the wilderness, and to find Him your 
rod and staff as you pass over the Jordan of 
death. The day and the hour of your depar- 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 215 



ture may be near, even at such a moment as 
you think not of. Oh, come then, knowing 
that your hour is at hand, and eat this passover, 
as if it might be to you the last as well as the 
first. 

On the morning on which Wishart, the first 
martyr of the Reformation in Scotland, was to 
be executed, the priests sent two Franciscan 
monks to acquaint him that the time of his 
death drew near, and to ask if he wished to 
confess his sins to them, as was customary. He 
replied, that he had no need for friars, nor any 
wish to converse with them, but if they would 
gratify him so far, he would be happy to be 
visited by the learned man who had preached 
the day before.* On this being reported, the 
sub-prior, after he had obtained the permission 
of the bishop, came to the prison in the Castle, 
where Wishart was confined, and held a long 
conversation with him, intermingled with many 
tears. At length, after he had ceased weeping, 
from which he could not refrain, he kindly 
asked, w T hether he would not wish to partake 

* John Winram, Sub-Prior of St. Andrews, who was at 
that time a friend to the Reformation, but not openly, for 
fear of the priests. 



216 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



of the sacrament of the Supper? " Most will- 
ingly," answered the martyr. "If, according 
to Christ's appointment, it be shown forth in 
both kinds, namely, in bread and wine." Win- 
ram immediately returned to the bishops, and, 
with a view of conciliating them, informed 
them that the prisoner solemnly affirmed his 
innocence of the crime with wdiich he was 
charged, and that he did not say so to avert 
his impending death, but only to leave a testi- 
mony to man of that innocence w r hich w^as 
known to God. The effect, however, was quite 
opposite: the Cardinal (Beaton) inflamed with 
rage, exclaimed, "As for you, Mr. Sub-Prior, 
we know very well already what you are." 
Winram then asked whether the prisoner would 
be allowed the communion of the holy body and 
blood of the Saviour ? when the other priests, 
after having consulted a little together, gave it 
as their opinion, " that it did not appear proper 
that an obstinate heretic, condemned by the 
Church, should have any Church privileges." 
This determination w r as reported to Wishart ; 
and it does not appear that he saw Mr. Winram 
again. 

At nine o'clock the friends and domestics of 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 217 



the governor having assembled to breakfast, 
he was asked whether he would partake with 
them: to which he frankly replied, " With more 
pleasure than I have done for some time past ; 
for I perceive you are devout men, and fellow- 
members of the same body of Christ with me, 
and also because I know this will be the last food 
I shall partake of on earth." Then address- 
ing the governor, "I invite you, in the name of 
God, and by that love which you bear to our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to sit down 
at this table a little, and attend to me while 
I address an exhortation to you, and pray over 
the bread which we are about to eat, as breth- 
ren of Christ ; and then I shall bid you fare- 
well." In the meantime, the table being cov- 
ered, as is the custom, with a linen cloth, and 
bread placed upon it, Wishart began a short 
and clear discourse upon the Last Supper, and 
the sufferings and death of Christ, and spoke 
about half an hour. He especially exhorted 
them to lay aside wrath, envy, and malice, that 
their minds might be filled with love to one 
another, and so become perfect members of 
Christ, who daily intercedes that we through 
Him, our sacrifice, may obtain eternal life. 
18* 



218 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



Having spoken to this effect, he gave God 
thanks, and broke the bread and gave a little 
to each ; and in like manner, he gave the wine, 
after he himself had tasted, entreating them 
to remember, in this sacrament, along with him, 
the last memorial of Christ's death ; but for 
himself, a more bitter cup was prepared, for no 
other reason than preaching the gospel. After 
this he again retired to his chamber, and fin- 
ished his own private devotions. 

Probably, since the institution of the Lord's 
Supper, it has seldom been celebrated under 
circumstances more solemn and affecting than 
on this first celebration of it in Protestant Scot- 
land. Wishart was a man of the most mild 
and amiable temper, of a sw T eet and venerable 
appearance, and his manners are said to have 
been particularly engaging. He had been a 
kind intimate in the governor's family for nearly 
two months, and during that time seems to have 
conciliated the affections of his keeper and at- 
tendants, the most of whom had probably 
through his means, become " partakers of like 
precious faith," as he addressed them, upon 
this occasion, as persons whom he knew to be 
fellow-members of the same body of Christ. In 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 219 



less than three hours he was to stand in the 
presence of that God and Saviour whose dying 
love they were commemorating, and to be hon- 
ored, to glorify his name, by passing through 
the flames to heaven. With what energy would 
he address them, — with what reverential atten- 
tion would they listen ! With what a pressure 
of the powers of the world to come resting upon 
him, would he speak and they hear, and both 
participate in the two-fold emblems of a Sa- 
viour's complete and perfect sacrifice. Scarcely 
can a scene of deeper interest be imagined, 
excepting, perhaps, some which soon followed, 

when, 

u Leaning on his spear, 
The lyart vet'ran heard the word of God," 

and from this holy banquet gathered strength 
to contend earnestly for the faith, and to wit- 
ness a good confession before many witnesses 
on the gibbet or at the stake. 

But such ought every communion season to 
be. It was the last command of Christ which 
instituted it, and His last act to observe it. 
The Lord Jesus, the same night in which He 
was betrayed, took bread. It was the darkest 
night that ever was in this world, and yet the 



220 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



brightest, — the night when His love to sinners 
was put to the severest test. " Knowing that 
He should now depart out of this world unto 
the Father, and having loved His own, He 
loved them unto the end," and therefore to 
comfort their sorrowful and desponding hearts, 

When on that immortal even 

Ever known again, 
The unleavened bread was given, 

The Lamb of God was slain. 

And as holy writ had told, 

In dim type of old ; 
Ate they the dread sacrifice. 

Girt for great emprise. 

Then for men of every nation 

Broke Christ the sacred bread, 
That on Him and His salvation 

Each and all might feed. 

And the cnp — His blood to save — 

Unto all He gave, 
Pledge of everlasting bliss, 

" Drink ye all — drink all — of this."* 

"And now," said Christ, after administering 
the ordinance, " I am no more in the world. 
I come to Thee. But these are in the world, 
and I come to Thee." 

* An ancient Latin Hymn. 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 221 



And so is each communion season " the Last 
Supper" to some. It is a coming unto God. 
It is a preparation for their burial. It is their 
last spiritual meal — their last act of faith and 
hope and consecration — their last communion 
with saints on earth, and with an unseen Sa- 
viour in heaven. 

He knows what wandering hearts we have, 

Apt to forget His glorious face, 
And to refresh our minds, He gave 

These kind memorials of His grace. 

Come, then, into His very presence. Set 
your affections on Him, that though you see 
Him not with bodily eyes, yet believing, you 
may rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of 
glory. 

Christ and His love fill every thought, 
And faith and love be fixed on Him. 

This every communicant is encouraged to do, 
and this the very act of participation necessa- 
rily implies. 

*I. He takes the bread and the wine. — When 
the minister offers the bread and wine to those 
at the table, this represents Christ freely offered 

* We chiefly adopt the simple and satisfactory illus- 
tration of the fervent in spirit, McCheyne. 



222 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



to sinners, even the chief. The receiving of 
the bread and wine means — I do thankfully 
receive the broken, bleeding Saviour as my 
Surety. The act of taking that bread and wine 
is an appropriating act; it is saying before God, 
and angels, and men, and devils, "I do flee to 
the Lord Jesus Christ as my refuge." Noah's 
entering into the ark was an appropriating act. 
Let others fly to the tops of their houses, to 
their castles and towers, to the ragged rocks, 
to the summits of the highest mountains, — as 
for me, I believe the word of God, and flee to 
this ark as my only refuge. (Heb. xi. 7.) When 
the man-slayer fled into the city of refuge, it 
was an appropriating act. As he entered breath- 
less at the gates of Hebron, his friends might 
cry to him, Flee into the wilderness, or, Flee 
beyond Jordan ! But no, he would say, I be- 
lieve the Word of God, that I shall be safe only 
within these walls ; this is my refuge city, here 
only will I hide ! (Josh, xx.) When an Israel- 
ite brought an offering of the herd or of the 
flock, when the priest had bound it with cords 
to the horns of the altar, the offerer laid his 
hands upon the head of the lamb ; this was an 
appropriating act, as much as to say, I take 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 223 



this lamb as dying for me. The world might 
say, How will this save you ? mend your life, 
give alms to the poor. I believe the Word of 
God, he would say ; I do not wish to bear my 
own sins, I lay them on the Lamb of God. (Lev. 
i. 4.) When the woman trembling came behind 
Jesus, and touched the hem of His garment, 
this also was an appropriating act. Her friends 
might say to her, Come and try some more 
physicians, or, Wait till you are somewhat bet- 
ter. No, said she, " If I may but touch His 
garment, I shall be made whole." (Mark v. 28.) 
In the 42d Psalm, David's enemies said to him 
continually, " Where is thy God ?" This made 
tears his meat night and day. It was like a 
sword in his bones. But in the 43d Psalm, he 
gathers courage, and says, " I will go unto the 
altar of God," where the Lamb was slain; and 
then he says, " Unto God my exceeding joy." 
You say, I have no God ; behold, I take this 
Lamb as slain for me, and therefore God is 
my God. In the Song of Solomon, when the 
bride found him whom her soul loved, she says, 
" I held him, and would not let him go." This 
was true appropriating faith. The world might 
say to her, " Come this way, and we will show 



224 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



thee other beloveds, fairer than thy beloved/ 7 
Nay, saith she, "I held him, and would not let 
him go." " This is my beloved, and this is my 
friend." (Song iii. 4.) 

Just such, beloved, is the meaning of receiv- 
ing broken bread and poured out wine at the 
Lord's Table. It is the most solemn appropri- 
ating act of all your lives. It is declaring by 
signs, " I do enter into the ark, I flee into the 
city of refuge, I lay my hand on the head of 
the Lamb, I do touch the hem of His garment, 
I do take Jesus to be my Lord and my God ; I 
hold him, and by grace I will never let him go." 
It is a deliberate closing with Christ, by means 
of signs, in the presence of witnesses. When 
the bride — that we may again apply and perfect 
our former illustration — accepts the right-hand 
in marriage before many witnesses, it is a sol- 
emn declaration to all the world, that she does 
accept the bridegroom to be her only husband. 
So, in the Lord's Supper, when you receive 
that bread and wine, you solemnly declare, that, 
forsaking all others, you heartily do receive the 
Lord Jesus as your only Lord and Saviour. 

A word to trembling, believing souls. This 
feast is spread for you. " Eat, friends ; 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 225 



drink, yea, drink abundantly, beloved." If 
you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, come. 
If you are " weak in the faith," ministers are 
commanded to receive you. If, even for the 
first time in your life, Christ now appear full 
and free to you, so that you cannot but believe 
on Him, do not hesitate to come. Come to 
the table, leaning on the Beloved, and you will 
have John's place there. You will lean peace- 
fully upon His breast. 

Think, while you eat and drink, 

Of all for thee Christ bore : 
The cup that He would drink, 
The crown of thorns He wore, 
The garden, the betrayal, and the gloom, 
The pavement, and the mountain, and the tomb. 

Be this, His flesh, thy cure, 

His bloody sweat thy balm, 
His blood thy soul secure, 
His agony thy calm ; 
To-day thy fears and anguish pass away 
In joy and peace that shall abide alway. 

II. Every communicant eats the bread and 
drinks the wine. — " Take, eat" — " Drink ye 
all of it." Eating and drinking in this ordi- 
nance, imply feeding upon Christ. It is said 
19 



226 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



of bread, that it " strengthened man's heart," 
and of wine, that it " maketh glad the heart of 
man." Bread is the staff of life, and wine is 
very reviving to those who, like Timothy, have 
often infirmities. They are the greatest nutri- 
tive blessings which man possesses. Now to par- 
take of them in the Lord's Supper, is as much as 
to say, I do feed on Jesus, as my only strength; 
"in the Lord have I righteousness and strength." 
To take the bread into your hand, is saying by 
signs, " Christ is made of God unto me righteous- 
ness." To feed upon it, is saying, " Christ is 
made unto me sanctification." 

When Israel fed on manna for forty years, 
and drank water from the rock, they were 
strengthened for their journey through the 
howling wilderness. This was a picture of be- 
lievers journeying through this w T orld. They 
feed every day on Christ their strength ; He is 
their daily manna ; He is the rock that follows 
them. When the bride sat under the shadow 
of the apple-tree, she said, " His fruit is sweet 
to my taste ;" and again, " Stay me with flag- 
ons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of 
love." Believers, this is a picture of you. No 
sooner are you sheltered by the Saviour, than 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 227 



you are nourished and renewed by Him. He 
comforts your hearts, and stablishes you in 
every good word and work. In the 36th Psalm, 
when David speaks of men trusting under the 
wings of the Lord Jesus, he adds, " They shall 
be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy 
house, and thou shalt make them drink of the 
river of thy pleasures." Little children, you 
know by experience Avhat this means. When 
you were brought to believe on the Son of God, 
you were adopted into His family, fed with the 
children's bread, and your hearts filled with the 
holy pleasures of God. The same thing is rep- 
resented in feeding on the bread and wine. It 
is a solemn declaration in the sight of the whole 
world, that you have been put into the clefts 
of the smitten rock, and that you are feeding 
on the honey treasured there. It is declaring 
that you have sat down under Christ's shadow, 
and that you are comforted and nourished by 
the fruit of that tree of life. It is saying, "I 
have come to trust under the shadow of His 
wings, and now I drink of the river of His 
pleasures." It is a sweet declaration of your 
own helplessness and weakness, and that Christ 
is all your strength — all your life. 



228 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



All, therefore, who are really "looking unto 
Jesus" are invited to come to the Lord's Table. 
You may feel like a sick person recovering from 
a fever ; you are without strength, you cannot 
lift your hand or your head ; yet you look unto 
Jesus as your strength ; He died for sinners, 
and He lives for them ; you look to Him day 
by day. You say, He is my bread, He is 
my wine ; I have no strength but what comes 
from Him. Come you and feed at the Lord's 
Table, and welcome. Or you feel like the travel- 
ler when he arrives at an inn, faint and ex- 
hausted : you have no strength to go further, 
you cannot take another step ; but you lean 
on Jesus as your strength ; you believe that 
word, " Because I live ye shall live also." 
Come you and feed on this bread and wine, 
with your staff in your hand and shoes on your 
feet, and you will " go on your way rejoicing." 
Feeble branches need most nourishment. The 
more you feel your weakness, the amazing de- 
pravity of your heart, the power of Satan, and 
the hatred of the world, the more need have 
you to lean on Jesus, to feed on this bread and 
wine. And you are all the more welcome. 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 229 



Oh Thou, that nailed upon the bleeding tree, 

Breathcst Thy soul away, let me draw nigh, 

And hang my weary heart and eyes on Thee. 

To look on Thee, in Thy sore agony, 

Shall heal the serpent's wounds that long hath strove 

And filled my veins with death. While Thou dost die, 

I from Thy throes am born to life above : 

'Tis thus Thou build'st Thy martyrs, and 'tis thus 

That Faith herself doth anchor on Thy love. 

While with Thine arms outstretched, bleeding and bare, 

As to Thy throne of Godhead, Thou to Thee 

Dost draw the big round world, let me draw near, 

And clinging at the foot of that dread tree, 

Beneath Thy withered frame and bleeding side, 

Hide myself, and look up, Lord, to Thee, 

That only hope and refuge, only pride 

Of a lost world. Oh, may'st Thou o'er me reign, 

And in the fountains of my heart abide.* 

III. Every communicant shares the hread 
and ivine with others. — The Lord's Table is 
not a selfish solitary meal. To eat bread and 
wine alone is not the Lord's Supper. This is 
the family meal of that family spoken of in 
Eph. iii. 15. You do not eat and drink alone, 
therefore, by yourself; you share the bread 
and wine with all at the same table. Jesus 
said, " Drink ye all of it." 

* A translation of an ancient hymn. 

19* 



230 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



This expresses love to the brethren, a sweet 
feeling of oneness with " all those who love the 
Lord Jesus in sincerity," a heart-filling desire 
that all should have the same peace, the same 
joy, the same spirit, the same holiness, the 
same heaven with yourself. You remember the 
golden candlestick in the temple, with its seven 
lamps. It was fed out of one golden bowl on 
the top of it, which was constantly full of oil. 
The oil ran down the shaft of the candlestick, 
and was distributed to each lamp, by seven 
golden pipes or branches. All the lamps shared 
the same oil. It passed from branch to branch. 
None of the lamps kept the oil to itself. It 
was shared among them all. So it is in the 
vine-tree. The sap ascends from the root, and 
fills all the branches. When one branch is 
satisfied, it lets the stream pass on to the next. 
Nay, it carries the rich juice to the smaller 
twigs and tendrils, that all may have their 
share, — that all may bear their precious fruit. 
So it is w r ith the body. The blood comes from 
the heart in full and nourishing stream, — it 
flow^s to all the members, — one member con- 
ducts it to another, that all may be kept alive, 
and all may grow. 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 231 



So it is in the Lord's Supper. The bread 
and wine are passed from hand to hand, to show 
that we are members one of another. " For 
we being many, are one bread, and one body, 
for w T e are all partakers of that one bread." 
1 Cor. x. 17. It is a solemn declaration, that 
you are one with all true Christians — one in 
peace, one in feeling, one in holiness ; and that 
if one member suffer, you will suffer with it, or 
if one member be honored, you will rejoice with 
it. You thereby declare that you are branches 
of the true Vine, and are vitally united to all 
the branches, — that you wish the same Holy 
Spirit to pervade every bosom. You declare 
that you are lamps of the same golden candle- 
stick, and that you wish the same golden oil, 
to keep you and them burning and shining as 
lights in a dark world. 

Dear believer, you "know that you are 
passed from death unto life, because you love 
the brethren." This pure and holy love is 
one of the first feelings in the converted bosom. 
It is divine and imperishable. You are a com- 
panion of all that fear God. It would be hell 
to you to spend eternity with wicked men. 
Come and show this love at the feast of love. 



282 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



The table in the upper room at Jerusalem was 
but a type and earnest of the table in the upper 
room of glory. Soon we shall exchange the 
table below for the table above, where we shall 
give full expression to our love to all eternity. 
There no betrayers can come — "no unclean 
thing can enter/' Jesus shall be at the head 
of the table, and God shall wipe away all tears 
from our eyes. 

Be known to us in breaking bread, 

But do not then depart ; 
Saviour, abide with us, and spread 

Thy table in our heart. 

There sup with us in love divine, 

Thy body and thy blood, 
That living bread, that heavenly wine, 

Be our immortal food. 

Within a short period the spirit of the late 
Dr. Adolphe Monod, the ornament of the 
French Protestant pulpit, and one of the most 
eloquent and devoted men of his generation, 
passed, through much tribulation, into the king- 
dom of God. For two years he struggled with 
an excruciating malady, before entering into 
his rest. And how was he sustained while 
passing through that valley and shadow of 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 233 



death? " As for me personally," said he, "I 
am in peace. Him whom I have preached is 
also Him in whom I have believed. Whatever 
moment He has appointed to take me back to 
himself, I know He will sustain me in the last 
struggle ; and I enter, in the measure of my 
weak faith, into the thought of the apostle : 
' I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, 
which is far better.' " 

He had always been of a melancholy cast of 
mind, but became more cheerful as he was 
more afflicted. Once, when his sufferings were 
very great, he was heard, whilst engaged in 
prayer, saying, " I have never been happier 
than I am now. I have never felt Thee so 
near me. I have never been less sad than 
since thou hast so sorely afflicted me." 

This gracious frame of mind he retained 
until the end, his patience and submission in- 
creasing as his sufferings grew more intense ; 
and many were the occasions when he testified 
as to his faith, and his entire reliance on his 
Saviour's blood. On one occasion, in the pre- 
sence of the members of his family, when he 
was about to take the communion with them, 
he thus expressed himself: — "It is only by 



234 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



faith we receive the Lord in the communion ; 
that we eat his flesh and drink his blood. Then 
we live by Him, as he lived by the Father ; 
and thereby our faith will not be the simple 
knowledge, but the possession of Jesus Christ. 
It is not knowing Jesus Christ that saves and 
sanctifies ; it is having Jesus Christ. ... In 
taking the communion with you, I declare that 
as we are called to it by God, I come into his 
presence as a poor sinner, whose whole life 
witnesses against him before God ; and whose 
Christian works are a pure gift of Divine grace, 
in which he only interfered to alloy them, and 
to mix therein human infirmity and corrup- 
tion. . . . But at the same time I have a 
firm, simple, and peaceful hope in the redemp- 
tion of Jesus Christ ; in his blood, in his sacri- 
fice ; and if I could find any clearer expression 
I would use it, that all the glory may be given 
to the efficacy of the blood of the sacrifice of 
Jesus Christ, atoning for my sins before God, 
supplying by his merits the good I have not 
done, and repairing the evil I have done. 
wonder of grace ! sin is abolished. I no more 
stand before God as a sinner. 4 Jesus Christ 
has been made unto us sanctification and re- 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 235 



demption ;' ' He has been made sin for us, that 
we might be righteous — that we might be made 
the righteousness of God in him.' I am 
clothed with His righteousness, as He is clothed 
with my sin ; God can no more condemn me 
than he can condemn his Son, and I stand be- 
fore him as his beloved Christ ! Faith in this 
sacrifice is my only hope. ,, 

He had then already been deprived of the pri- 
vilege of public worship for four months, and 
it became evident that no amelioration could 
be hoped for, when the thought occurred to 
him that he might still gather a few friends 
around him, to partake of the communion with 
them. The first meeting of the kind was held 
on the 14th of October last ; and they were 
continued every Sunday without interruption 
for six months. These meetings were a true 
practical evangelical alliance, as they were 
conducted by ministers of all denominations 
— Reformed, Lutheran, Independent, Free 
Church, Wesleyans ; and all those who assem- 
bled — and they were as numerous as the little 
sick-room would allow — felt that they were in- 
deed one body and one soul with their afflicted 
brother, and that, like him, they had no other 



236 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



hope of salvation but the cross of their Saviour. 
Mr. Monod himself was able to say a few words 
at every meeting, however much he might have 
suffered during the foregoing w T eek. For this 
privilege he felt very thankful, and acknow- 
ledged it as a special favor. Those who heard 
him then will agree that he was never more 
powerful in the pulpit than he was on that bed 
of sickness, when he addressed them briefly, on 
the main points of Christian faith and love, 
and collected the little strength he had, after 
a week of constant suffering, to urge them to 
consecrate themselves entirely to the Lord's 
service. 

The last of these meetings took place on the 
30th of March last. Although very weak that 
day, strength was granted him to make a 
prayer, which was as his farewell to the 
Church. It was full of humiliation and thanks- 
giving towards God, of love and gratitude to- 
wards his brethren. "0 God!" he said, 
"whose name is love; who never hast, and 
never will do any thing but in love ; how can 
I be thankful enough when I see these friends, 
whose love for me has assembled them around 
my bed of sickness and suffering, and what 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 237 



more thou alone knowest ! I rejoice in their 
love. To whom has more ever been shown 
than to me ? Should I not be the most un- 
grateful of men if I were not the most thank- 
ful? Therefore I return thee thanks, my 
God ; and I thank thee still more, if possible, 
for thy love that has so sorely afflicted me, but 
which has at the same time supported me ; and 
I confess before these friends, that thou hast 
never let me want any thing, though I have 
been so often wanting in faith and patience ; 
and though I am so far from having attained 
that perfect patience to which I most ardently 
aspire. But thou hast been all mercy, and as 
long as I have breath of life and strength, I 
will declare it before them. I thank thee, 
my God, for the freeness with which thou hast 
manifested thy goodness towards me, in freely 
forgiving all my sins ; I, the greatest of sin- 
ners, the least of thy children, the poorest of 
thy servants ; but I also, whom thou hast load- 
ed with mercy, and made use of to advance thy 
kingdom, even in the extreme weakness and 
pain in which I am plunged to-day. I bless 
thee that thou hast given me a Saviour ! With- 
out Him, I confess, my God, I should have 
20 



238 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



been irrevocably lost, and now in the depths 
of despair. But I have a Saviour ! who has 
freely saved me by his blood which was shed, 
and I will make it known that I rest entirely 
upon his blood shed for me. I confess that all 
my righteousness, all my works which have 
been praised, all my preaching appreciated and 
admired, all is, in my sight, as filthy rags, and 
that there is nothing in me capable of subsist- 
ing before the light of thy countenance and the 
brightness of thy holiness. But now it is not 
I that shall be judged ; it is Christ in me ; and 
I know that he will enter, and I with him, and 
that we are so closely united that he could 
never enter and leave me without. God, I 
thank thee for all these friends, to whom thou 
hast granted the same privilege and the same 
consolation, and to whom thou hast deigned 
also to give thy Holy Spirit, to apply to their 
souls the free gift of eternal life by the blood 
of Jesus Christ."* 

Well, then, may it be said, that "the Lord's 
Supper is the sweetest of all ordinances." It 
is fragrant with the love of Christ who is "the 
beginning, middle and end of it," — its author 

* See the full account as given in The Presbyterian. 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 239 



and its finisher, — its life and power. Here 
Christ is all and in all, and here "all things 
are ours," found through Christ strengthening 
our faith to ask and expect them, opening our 
hearts to receive them, and out of His own in- 
finite fullness imparting grace and mercy in 
every time of need, and sufficient for every 
emergency. 

Pardon and peace to dying men, 

And endless life are given, 
Through the rich blood that Jesus shed, 

To raise our souls to heaven. 

Millions of souls in glory now 

Were fed and fostered here ; 
And millions more, still on their vray, 

Around the board appear. 

Here Saviour, here Thyself reveal, 

And be Thy glory known, 
Affix Thy blessed Spirit's seal, 

Make aU my heart Thine own. 



i SE BROUGHT ME TO THE BAXQUETIXG HOUSE." 

Song ii. 4. 

While in sweet communion feeding 

On this earthly bread and wine, 

Saviour, may we see Thee bleeding 

On the cross, to make us Thine 3 



240 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



Now, our eyes forever closing 
To this fleeting world below, 

On Thy gentle breast reposing, 

Teach us, Lord, thy grace to know. 

Though unseen, be ever near us, 

With the still small voice of love; 
Whisp'ring words of peace to cheer us ; 

Every doubt and fear remove ; 
Bring before us all the story 

Of Thy life and death of woe j 
And with hopes of endless glory, 

Wean our hearts from all below. 



AN ANCIENT SACRAMENTAL HYMN. 

FROM THE LATIN. 

Most gracious, all-sufficient Saviour, 

Who 7 neath these symbols giv r st Thyself to me, 

My heart of hearts prostrate before Thee falls, 

But cannot reach Thee ; contemplation lost 

In wonder, love, and praise. 1 hear Thy words, 

" This is My body, this is My blood, 

Broken and shed for sin's most full remission." 

Thy word of truth hath spoken : I believe 

And trust in Thee, who art Thyself the truth. 

And I would on Thee gaze, and make the prayer 

Of the poor penitent thief — Remember me ! 

Though I behold Thee not, nor feel Thy wounds, 

Like Thomas, I would lift mine eyes and cry. 

Thou art my Lord and God ! Make me believe 

And love Thee, and have my hope in Thee. 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 241 



blest memorial of Thy Sacrifice! 
True living bread, the bread that gives true life, 
Make my soul taste Thee, feed on Thee, and live! 
O Fount of purity, Jesus my Lord! 
Unclean, unclean am I* Make Thou me clean 
With Thine own blood, of which one little drop 
Can cleanse the guilty world of all her sin. 
Oh, Thou whom I behold beneath this veil, 
Grant one thing unto me, for which I thirst, 
Suppliant, I pray Thee, that I may behold 
Thy gracious countenance without the veil, 
And seeing then Thy glory, may be blest! 



" TAKE, EAT, THIS IS MY BODY. 77 

Matt. xxvL 26. 
Bread of the world, in mercy broken, 

Wine of the soul, in mercy shed ! 
By whom the words of life were spoken, 

And in whose death our sins are dead : 

Look on this heart, by sorrow broken • 
Look on these tears, by sinners shed, 

And be Thy feast to me the token 
That, by Thy grace, my soul is fed. 



STRENGTH FOR CONFLICT. 

Soldier of Christ ! thou w r arrior tied 

And bound by holiest vow, 
Oh ! what hast thou to do with rest and ease? 

Still wipe thy manly brow. 

20* 



242 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



Strengthen thy feeble knees, 

And but with life thine armor lay aside. 

For yet a little while 
When thou on thy last enemy hast trod, 

Shalt enter with a smile 
On rest eternal — yea ! the rest of God ! 

Approach then, thou with heart sincere, 
Show thy firm allegiance here ; 
; Twas Himself who gave the sign — 
Brake the bread and poured the wine. 

Faithful to His last command, 
Take these symbols in thy hand ; 
Eat, and Jesus suffering see ; 
Drink, and ponder 'twas for thee. 



HOW TO APPROACH. 

" And did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. " 

Acts ii. 46, 
Approach not the altar 

With gloom in thy soul ; 
Nor let thy feet falter 
From terror's control ! 

God loves not the sadness 

Of fear and distrust ; 
Oh ! serve Him with gladness — 

The Gentle, the Just ! 

Confiding, believing, 

Oh ! enter always 
"His courts with thanksgiving — 

His portals with praise !" 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 243 



Nor come to the temple 
With pride in thy mien ; 

But lowly and simple, 
In courage serene. 

Bring meekly before Him 

The faith of a child ; 
Bow down and adore Him, 

With heart undefiled. 

And " by the still waters," 
And through the green shade, 

"With Zion's glad daughters 
Thy path shall be made. 



COMMUNION. 

Communion of my Saviour's blood, 
In Him to have my lot and part, 

To prove the virtue of that flood 

Which burst on Calvary from His heart ; 

To feed by faith on Christ, my bread. 

His body broken on the tree ; 
To live in Him, my living Head, 

Who died, and rose again for me ; — 

This be my joy and comfort here, 
This pledge of future glory mine : 

Jesus, in spirit now appear, 

And break the bread, and pour the wine. 

From Thy dear hand, may I receive 
The tokens of Thy dying love, 



244 REMEMBERING CHRIST AT 



And, while I feast on earth, believe 
That I shall feast with Thee above. 

Ah ! there, though in the lowest place, 
Thee at Thy table could I meet, 

And see Thee, know Thee, face to face, 
For such a moment death were sweet. 

What then will their fruition be, 

Who meet in heaven with blest accord? 

A moment ? — No, eternity ! 

They are forever with the lord. 



THE LITANY. 

Lamb of God I whose bleeding love 

We now recall to mind, 
Send the answer from above, 

And let us mercy find ; 
Think on us, who think on Thee, 

And every burdened soul release ; 
Oh, remember Calvary, 

And bid us go in peace ! 

By Thine agonizing pain, 

And bloody sweat, we pray ; 
By Thy dying love to man, 

Take all our sins away : 
Burst our bonds, and set us free, 

From all iniquity release ; 
Oh, remember Calvary, 

And bid us go in peace ! 



THE COMMUNION TABLE. 245 



Through Thy blood, by faith applied, 

Let sinners pardon feel : 
Speak us freely justified, 

And all our sickness heal ; 
By Thy passion on the tree, 

Let all our griefs and troubles cease; 
Oh, remember Calvary, 

And bid us go in peace. 



CHAPTER X. 

WORDS OF INSTRUCTION, OF COUNSEL AND OF 
WARNING. 

What may and ought to be expected. 

My dear reader, I must now leave you, but 
not, I trust alone. You will be able, I hope, 
to say with Christ, " and yet I am not alone 
because the Father is with me." Yes ! God I 
hope will be with you, work in you to will and 
to do, give you the preparation of the heart and 
the answer of the tongue ; invite you by His 
still small voice to " keep the feast ;" create in 
you a hungering and thirsting after righteous- 
ness ; " sweetly force you in," and there say to 
you, as you sit before him in heavenly places 
in Christ Jesus, "Eat, friend, drink, yea, 
drink abundantly, beloved." 

This, dear reader, is my heart's desire and 
prayer to God for you. Having this hope, 
you will be able to say with Colonel Gardiner, 
"how blessed the solemn ordinance of the 
Lord's Supper proved to me." " Often," says 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 247 



Dr. Doddridge in his Memoir of that remark- 
able trophy of the power of divine grace to 
convert the most infidel, and sanctify the most 
impure, "have I had the pleasure to see that 
manly countenance softened into all the marks 
of humiliation and contrition on communion 
occasions, and to discern, in spite of all his 
efforts to conceal them, streams of tears flowing 
down from his eyes while he has been direct- 
ing them to the memorials of his Redeemer's 
love. And some who have conversed inti- 
mately with him, after he came from that ordi- 
nance, have observed a visible abstraction from 
surrounding objects, by which there seemed 
reason to imagine that his soul was wrapped 
up in holy contemplation. And I particularly 
remember that when we had once spent a great 
part of the following Monday in reading to- 
gether, he made an apology to me for being so 
absent, as he seemed, by telling me that his 
heart was flowing upwards, before he was 
aware, to Him whom, having not seen, he 
loved, and he was rejoicing in Him with joy so 
unspeakable, that he could not hold it down to 
creature converse.' ' 

And when faith and love are in lively exer- 



248 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



cise — when like Colonel Gardiner, we examine 
our own selves, judge our own selves, and in 
conscious weakness and want, " wrestle with 
the angel of the covenant, and make supplica- 
tions to Him with tears, and cries, " He will 
strengthen us like Jacob, that we may have 
power with God, and prevail," so as to be 
made conscious of His presence. ""While the 
king," says the believing spouse, " sitteth at 
the table, my spikenard sendeth forth the 
smell thereof." And such should be the case 
always when we feast upon Him who " offered 
Himself an offering and a sacrifice unto God, 
a sweet smelling savor," out of whose lips 
is poured grace, and "all whose garments smell 
of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the 
ivory palaces whereby they have made thee 
glad." Even as " God hath anointed Him 
Avith gladness," so "with gladness and rejoic- 
ing shall His people be brought, they shall enter 
into the king's palace." Only let your heart and 
your expectation be towards Him, saying, "let 
my beloved come into my garden, and eat of His 
pleasant fruits," and He will be heard by the 
ear of faith, saying, " I am come into my gar- 
den, my sister, my spouse. I have gathered 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 249 



my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my 
honey-comb with my honey. I have drunk my 
wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, 
yea, drink abundantly, beloved." 

How can it be otherwise. By that " one 
offering offered up once for all, Christ hath per- 
fected for ever them that are sanctified." " All 
power is now in His hands." The Father 
loveth the Son, and hath given to Him all 
things here and in heaven so that He might 
be Head over all things to His church both in 
heaven and on earth. He " has received gifts 
for the rebellious also," and " ever liveth to give 
repentance and remission of sins." To Him, 
thus mighty to save, we look in all, and through 
all, the services of the communion. He is our 
altar, our sacrifice, our High Priest, our King. 
We are His friends chosen in Christ, given to 
Christ, called and adopted by Christ, and ac- 
cepted by God for Christ's sake. We here 
perceive the love of God the Father, the grace 
of God the Son, and the comfort, advocacy, 
consolation, and help, of God the Holy Ghost. 

Having "in the end," or "evening of the 
world, put away sin by the sacrifice of Him- 
self," Christ calls His disciples apart, that 
21 



250 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



here, encircled by His family, He may feast 
Himself with His redeemed, and they with 
Him, in this holy Supper. He is as present 
now in spirit, as He was with His first disciples 
in body, and yet a little while and we shall be 
brought into His upper sanctuary to celebrate 
the ordinance anew at the marriage supper 
of the Lamb, and then and there we shall 
behold Him by sight, as we now do by faith. 
Then we shall be with Him where He is, see 
Him as He is, and be satisfied with His like- 
ness, as now we see Him through the glass of 
ordinances darkly, and yet believingly and re- 
joicingly. Being united to Christ, we here 
partake of His fullness, and having life in 
Christ, are quickened together with Him who 
is our life, and with whom, when He appears, 
we shall appear with Him in glory. 

In the Lord's Supper Christ is the substance 
of all its shadows and the reality of all its 
forms. The Lord's Supper is a fresh opening 
and reading of Christ's will. It is the New 
Testament or bequest of that inheritance — 
that eternal weight of glory — and that grace 
and mercy, — including every good and perfect 
gift, and " all those things Ave have need of," — 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 251 



which Christ hath purchased for us. We come 
here by His invitation to meet Him, and to 
assure our hearts before Him. " Gather ye," 
He says, " my saints together, those that have 
made a covenant with Me," that here in 
my banqueting house my banner over them 
may be love. " If any man thirst, let him 
come and drink." " And the Spirit and the 
Bride say, come : and let him that heareth say, 
come : and let him that is athirst, come : and 
whosoever will, let him come and take of the 
water of life freely." Blessed are the poor in 
spirit, the needy in soul, the halt by sin, the 
blind in heart, yea, the dead in trespasses and 
sins, for even such, all such are bidden to the 
feast. " Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath 
not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in 
faith and heirs of the kingdom." The Lord's 
table is the Lord's gift, and as He is the Host, 
so does He provide the fare, give the prepara- 
tion of the heart, and " the garments of salva- 
tion." And every poor, needy, and hopeless 
sinner who comes to Him as a free, full, and 
complete Saviour, is a welcome guest — wel- 
come to come and put in his claim for the rich 
gifts which Christ has left and secured for him, 



252 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



to receive a present earnest of them, and to 
feel that he is an heir, " an heir of God, a joint 
heir with Christ, to an inheritance incorrupti- 
ble, undefiled, and that cannot fade away." 

" Truly we have fellowship with the Father 
and with His Son Jesus Christ." We have to 
do with Jesus. Desire and expect, above all 
things, therefore, at the Lord's table, the pre- 
sence of your Saviour. Will not Jesus come 
to the feast ? Yes. " I will be with you. I 
will not leave you comfortless. I will come 
unto you. I am with you always. I will bless 
you and do you good." Come, then, boldly, 
that you "may obtain mercy, and find grace 
to help you in time of need." Open up your 
heart to Him who "searcheth the reins and 
hearts, and unto whose eyes all things are 
naked and open." Say unto Him, " try me, 
Lord, prove me, search my thoughts, and 
see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead 
me in the way everlasting. Lord, send Thy 
light and Thy truth. Let them lead me, let 
them bring me unto Thy holy hill and to Thy 
tabernacles. Then shall I go unto the altar 
of God, (i. e. Christ,) to God my exceeding 
joy. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 253 



soul shall be joyful in my God. For He hath 
clothed me with the garments of salvation. 
He hath covered me with the robe of righte- 
ousness. As a bridegroom decketh herself 
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth her- 
self with jewels. Even so, Lord Jesus, come. 
Now, even now, let mine eyes see Thy salva- 
tion/ ' 

Remember, however, that while Christ 
waiteth to be gracious, " while He wishes 
every guest to worship in the beauty of holi- 
ness, " to sit before Him as in heavenly 
places, "to comprehend more of the length 
and breadth, and height, and depth of the 
love of God," that nevertheless Christ comes 
to His table as a King, clothed with the 
sovereignty of grace and power. He giveth 
hoiv and when, and as " it seemeth to Him 
good" — to "all severally as He will." We 
are bound, but He is free. We are ignorant, 
He is wisdom. We know not what a day may 
bring forth, Ave know not even what to ask for 
as we ought, we know not what spirit we are 
of, and therefore we know not what things we 
have most need of — but He knoweth the end 
from the beginning. He knows all things, and 
21* 



254 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



He will make all things work together for our 
good. Let us then trust Him for His grace. 
Let us feel confidence, that as no trial shall be 
permitted to befall us but what He will ena- 
ble us to bear, so He will also order His gifts, 
and graces, and blessings, so as to prove Him- 
self a very present help, according to our need. 
"None shall go away empty." None of His 
little ones need despond or fear that Jesus will 
overlook or pass them by, and not be known 
by them in the breaking of bread. They shall 
every one have his own several, personal, appro- 
priate, and with a seasonable and suitable sup- 
ply. Not all alike in measure or in quality — 
not all alike in character or experience — but all 
alike in grace — all alike in the wise adaptation 
of Christ's imparted blessing to their wants and 
woes, their trials and temptations — to their 
direction, encouragement, reproof, rebuke, cor- 
rection, humiliation, and thus to their sanctifi- 
cation here, and their salvation hereafter. 
" Jesus knoweth their hearts" — their lives and 
their lusts, their pride too, and self-confi- 
dence, and all those temptations that do so 
easily beset them. His fan is in His hand, and 
He will thoroughly purge His floor, winnow 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 255 



His wheat, and separate the chaff, and as a 
skilful Refiner, adapt all His movements, so 
as to purge away the dross, and render the 
gold seven times purified. 

Like a wise Householder, therefore, Christ 
will bring forth and set before every guest His 
meat in due season, milk for babes, strong 
meat for the full grown, and wine on the lees 
well refined for the faint and weary, and him 
that is ready to perish. All graces are His 
gifts. Faith is His gift, and so is peace, and 
hope, and joy, and assurance. Wisdom and 
strength, and fortitude, and patience, and re- 
signation, and rejoicing in tribulation, as well 
as hope of the glory of God, are also His 
gifts. Repentance, and humility, and godly 
sorrow, and mortification of the flesh, and vic- 
tory over the world, and self-denial, and taking 
up the cross, — all these also are among the 
gifts and graces of our Lord and Master. 

In the Lord's Supper there are, therefore, 
diversities of gifts and differences of operation, 
and variety of administration. But they are 
all from the same Lord. " The Lord knoweth 
them that are His." To every one of them 
He says, " Thou hast found grace in my sight, 
and I know thee by name. This people I have 



256 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



formed for Myself, they shall show forth My 
praise/' Every one of them also can say in 
return, " The Lord is my portion, my Lord 
and my God. Whom have I in heaven but 
Thee, and there is none upon the earth that I 
desire besides Thee." And to every one of 
them Christ again answers and says, " But 
now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O 
Jacob, and that formed thee, Israel, fear 
not, for I have redeemed thee ; I have called 
thee by thy name, thou art mine. I am come, 
that ye may have life, and that ye may have it 
more abundantly." 

The state and condition of each communi- 
cant is as much, then, the object of Christ's 
regard, as their person and their salvation. 
And His dealings with them, and His gifts 
to them are ordered accordingly. 

As the wind bloweth when and where, and as 
it listeth — as the rain cometh down from 
heaven in that measure and in those places 
which it pleaseth Him that sends it* — and as 

* In like manner the lightning, when it break eth forth, 
is easy to be seen; and after the same manner, the wind 
bloweth in every country. And when God commandeth 
the clouds to go oyer the whole world, they do as they are 
bidden. — Apocrypha. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 257 



the seed cast into the earth beareth fruit in 
some thirty, in some, sixty, and in some an 
hundred fold, so it is in the communion of 
the Lord's Supper. It accomplishes in all that 
which pleaseth Christ, and that for which He 
hath sent it. And let it be remembered that 
as it is just as easy for God to send a strong 
wind as the gentle breeze or the calm, and the 
full and flooding rain as the soft and silent 
dew, and to multiply seed an hundred as thirty 
fold — so it is here. The difference is in 
Christ's purpose, and not in His power, in His 
providence, and not in His promises, and in 
His adaptation of His gifts to our graces or 
gracelessness, and not in any want of loving 
kindness and tender concern for our best good 
and our greatest happiness. Many come with 
their pitcher to the wells of salvation, and go 
away without water, because they do not come 
with their pitchers empty, but so full of their 
own frames and feelings, their desires and ex- 
pectations, their selfish wishes and prescribed 
limitations to the divine conduct, as to leave 
"no room to receive it." Their anxiety to be 
made happy, to enjoy peaceful hope, and to be 
comforted — like the crying of a weaned child — 



258 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



actually drives away joy, beclouds hope, and 
destroys comfort. What they require — is not 
the breasts of consolation, but — the stronger 
food of wholesome correction, reproof, self- 
loathing, and humiliation, in order that for- 
saking all confidence in themselves, they may 
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved 
them and gave Himself for them. And if, my 
dear reader, you leave the table of the Lord 
dejected and disquieted, faint and fearing, hun- 
gry and thirsty, cold and barren, say, "Even 
so, Saviour, if so it seemeth good in Thy sight. 
Give me Thyself, and withhold what Thou wilt. 
Be Thou my rock and refuge, and then let the 
winds blow and the floods arise and beat 
against me. What time I am afraid, I will 
trust in Thee. Why art thou cast down, O 
my soul, and why art thou disquieted within 
me. Hope thou in Christ, He is faithful, He 
cannot deny himself. He is able, He is will- 
ing, and will not leave me or forsake me, but 
will yet be the strength of my heart and my 
exceeding joy. My soul, hope thou in Christ." 
It will always happen that at the Lord's 
table some will enjoy much and others less ; 
some will weep and others sing for joy. Into 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 259 



the hearts of some, Christ will put gladness, 
and into others fears and faintings, and self- 
misgivings. Some hearts will burn within 
them, while He talks with them by the way, 
and opens to them the Scriptures, and is known 
unto them, while to others He hideth Himself, 
and they walk in darkness and see no light. 
Some, like Mary, will lie low at the feet of 
Jesus, and wash His feet with their tears, and 
wipe them with their dishevelled hair, while 
others, like the beloved disciple, will be per- 
mitted to lean on His bosom and drink in life, 
inspiration, and bliss, from His blessed words. 
Some will go away rejoicing as a strong man, 
to run with patience the race set before them, 
while others will go away hanging their heads 
as a bulrush, and in much heaviness, because 
of their inward sorrow and self-upbraiding. 

But none shall go away empty. Every man 
will receive the gift. Every man's pitcher 
will be filled with water out of the wells of sal- 
vation, and if one cannot strike his harp with 
exulting joy because he feels that Christ is His, 
all may say, " in the Lord have I righteous- 
ness and strength." Many will say unto the 
Lord, "Who will show me any good. Lord, to 



260 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



whom can I go but unto Thee, Thou hast the 
words of eternal life." 

It was GocTs great and free mercy which first 
gave you, Christian, spiritual life in Christ, 
and at the same time arranged all His pur- 
poses so as to secure your well-being in Christ, 
and has so ordered His providence, that every 
thing should subserve and minister to the divine 
glory and your happiness. So that the re- 
newed soul at the Lord's table, conscious that 
the Lord's grace is to his person, and the Lord's 
knowledge extends to all his wants, and that 
Jesus is at the head of the table to supply them 
all, feels a confidence in unbosoming himself to 
the Lord, as one that hath interest with the 
great Master of the feast. He can say, " My 
God knows my person, and I have found grace 
in his sight. He knows also every thing that 
concerns me, and what will best suit his own 
glory and my happiness. How, then, can I do 
otherwise than fare well, while Jesus is at the 
head of His table." 

It is, then, as has been said, the grossest of 
all mistakes, and one as unhappy as it is un- 
warranted, to measure the Lord's grace by the 
Lord's gifts ; or to estimate the acceptance 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 261 



in which the Lord regards us by what we re- 
ceive from Him, instead of drawing conclusions 
from what Jesus is in Himself, from His prom- 
ises and from His sure mercies. It is not from 
the largeness of Jesus' gifts we are to form a 
judgment of His favor towards us, but from the 
largeness of the love of His heart towards us. 
Even among men, we do not form our opinions 
by what men do, so much as by what they 
mean. A wise and prudent father may dearly 
love his child, and yet be very sparing in his 
gifts. Nay, he may even withhold them from 
the greatness of his love, lest too much bounty 
might injure him. And so it is said, of our God 
and Father, that " He hath abounded toward 
us in all wisdom and prudence." We cannot, 
therefore, estimate His love by His gifts, since 
His withholding them may itself be the fruit of 
love, and the evidence of infinite and far-reach- 
ing wisdom. The Lord giveth and the Lord 
taketh away, raiseth up one and pulleth down 
another, comforteth one and chasteneth another, 
maketh peace to flow through the heart of one 
like a river because he trusteth in Him, and 
sendeth another empty away, because he trust- 
eth in himself and in his own graces, or because 
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262 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



he is looking for joy and not for holiness, for hifl 
own good rather than the Saviour's glory — but 
to all and every one He gives ground for 
exclaiming, " Blessed be the name of the 
Lord. Even so, Father, for such seemeth good 
in Thy sight. Thy will, not mine, be done. I 
will trust in the Lord, and not be afraid. He 
is my light and my life, and He will yet be the 
strength of my heart and my salvation. 
Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, 
neither shall fruit be in the vines : the labor 
of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield 
no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the 
fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : 
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the 
God of my salvation. The Lord God is my 
strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' 
feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine 
high places." 

Let such, then, dear readers, be your views 
and expectations, in going to, and returning 
from, the Lord's Supper. Go to the feast with 
these gracious apprehensions and expectations. 
Behold the King at His table, and look for 
such blessings from His hand as He knoweth 
it best to bestow. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 263 



Blessing, and honor, and power, and glory, 
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and 
to the Lamb that was slain, for ever and ever ! 
Surely our God is gracious in having instituted 
such a feast for the setting forth of His love. 
I have tasted, I do taste, that the Lord is gra- 
cious, and that His mercy endureth for ever. 
Oh ! what a miracle of love is the whole pur- 
pose of God, concerning His church and peo- 
ple ! Chosen of God to be holy ; then fallen 
by sin, then redeemed by blood, yea, the blood 
of the Son of God; then regenerated by the 
Spirit, and now feasted upon the body and 
blood of Christ. And ere long to sit down in 
the kingdom of glory, to feast their ravished 
souls in the unceasing enjoyment of God and 
the Lamb for evermore. Thanks be unto God 
for his unspeakable gift ! 

Gracious Lord God ! Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost ! In the name of Thy dear and blessed 
Son, I pray for grace to present myself at thy 
mercy seat. It hath been proclaimed in Thy 
church, and to thy people, that my Lord is 
about to hold a feast at his table on the sacri- 
fice of His own broken body and blood. Lord ! 
may I be of the happy number ? I would come 



264 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



as a poor needy sinner. And I would pray my 
God, who spreads His table and invites His 
guests, to prepare my otherwise unprepared 
soul, both to accept the invitation, and to be 
found a welcome guest before Thee. 

I look up to thee, thou blessed and eter- 
nal Spirit ! who art the alone quickener of 
dead souls, and the glorifier of Christ Jesus ; 
that thoti woulclst work in me, both to will and 
to do of thy good pleasure. Oh ! give me such 
a deep view of sin, and with it such a deep 
view of the fullness, suitableness, and all suf- 
ficiency of redeeming grace in Christ, that 
while my soul feels, as it ought to feel, an 
abiding sense of my own total unworthiness 
before God, the view of Jesus and his finished 
salvation may comfort and encourage me. 
Bring me, Divine Spirit, to that fountain 
which is open for sin and uncleanness. Wash 
me, and make me white in the blood of the 
Lamb ! Clothe me with the robe of Christ's 
spotless righteousness, so that when the King 
comes in to see the guests at His table, I may 
be found by Him clothed in his wedding gar- 
ment, the righteousness of the saints, and have 
a gracious reception ! 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 265 



And oh ! Thou Blessed Redeemer ! Thou who 
art the Lord of the feast, and the whole sub- 
stance of it ! wilt Thou be graciously pleased to 
manifest thyself to me at thy table ; and while 
Thou art visiting one and another of thy re- 
deemed there with the smiles of Thy love, oh ! 
for some sweet token to my poor soul also, 
given me by Thine own hand. Let me hear 
Thy voice ; let me see Thy countenance : for 
sweet is Thy voice, and Thy countenance is 
comely ! ' 

Everlasting praise to my God and Father 
for taking me into this covenant of grace, and 
for having given me to his dear Son. Lord, ac- 
cept me in him. Give me to know my adop- 
tion in him : and both here and for ever may 
my soul be found holy in him, and without 
blame before Thee in love. And may my soul 
bs in such lively actings of faith at the table of 
thy dear Son, that I may enjoy all the bless- 
ings of thy covenant love in Jesus Christ. 
Glory be to Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, now and for ever. 

Great Master of the feast ! Precious Lord 
Jesus ! by every great and glorious name, and 
by every tender and endearing name would my 
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266 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION". 



soul call upon Thee, and welcome my Lord at 
His own table ! Lord ! I pray thee come in 
and see thy guests at thy table. Thou art 
Thyself all the feast. Thou art the Sacrifice, 
the Sacrificer, and the Altar of thine offering. 
For by that one offering of Thyself once offer- 
ed, thou hast perfected for ever them that are 
sanctified. Behold, Lord ! thy redeemed, thy 
children, thy people, here met at thine invita- 
tion to be fed by thy bounty, and to commemo- 
rate the sweet memorial of thy death. Lord ! 
be thou with us in every part of the feast. 

Surely, God our Father hath drawn me here, 
for Jesus himself hath said, that none can come 
unto Him except the Father, who hath sent 
Jesus, draw him. Surely, God the Spirit hath 
inclined my soul to come here ; for it is He 
that hath put an hungering and thirsting in my 
soul after Jesus, and which none but Jesus 
himself can satisfy. And, surely, God the Son 
hath invited me here ; for Jesus did promise 
that when He was lifted up He would draw all 
to Him ! precious testimonies of a precious 
covenant God in Christ. Here then, I am, 
come ; and may the Lord give me a gracious 
welcome ! 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 267 



But, Lord, before I depart, let me drop one 
petition for Thy Zion, and that part of Thy 
church more especially with whom I am here 
partaking of Thy bounties. Lord, answer 
every cry of Thy children. Give out largely 
to the supply of their wants. Suffer none, no, 
not one of Thine, to go empty away, but let 
Thy poor, and Thy needy, give praise to Thy 
name. Surely, Jesus is constrained to bless 
His own. He will not hide Himself from His 
own flesh. If Thou, dearest Lord, wert to 
withhold Thy bounties, Thou wouldst not be 
more full. And if thou wert to give ever so 
largely, Thou canst not be straitened. Lord, 
pronounce a blessing, then, on every one, and 
let all Thy people praise Thee. God be mer- 
ciful unto us, and bless us ; and cause His face 
to shine upon us. Selah. That Thy way may 
be known upon earth, Thy saving health among 
all nations. Let the people praise Thee, God ; 
let all the people praise Thee. let the na- 
tions be glad, and sing for joy ; for Thou shalt 
judge the people righteously, and govern the 
nations upon earth. Let the people praise 
Thee, God ; let all the people praise Thee. 
Then shall the earth yield her increase ; and 



^68 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



God, even our own God, shall bless us. God 
shall bless us : and all the ends of the earth 
shall fear Him. 



Wliat the Lord's Supper is, and what it 
Teaches. 

From what has now been said, the true na- 
ture and design of the Lord's Supper, and of 
the benefits to be derived from it, must be appa- 
rent. It is to Christianity what the celebration 
of the Fourth of July is to our National Inde- 
pendence. It is an instituted public and stated 
observance, originated at the very beginning of 
Christianity, and constantly maintained by all 
Christians, in every part of the world, ever since. 
It is a phenomenon incapable of explanation, 
except by the admission of the great funda- 
mental facts of Christianity. It is a monument 
more enduring than brass, or triumphal arches, 
or pyramids of stone. It is a living monument, 
whose sound has gone out into all the earth, 
so that there is no speech or language where 
its voice has not been heard. It is a pillar and 
ground for the truth ; and as it has stood firm 
as a rock against all the assaults of hell ever 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 269 



since Christ's coming, so will it remain firm 
and unassailable, lifting its head to the clouds, 
and covering with its ever widening base the 
whole earth, until Christ comes the second 
time to judge that world which He redeemed. 
But, while the Lord's Supper is an irresist- 
ible demonstration of the truth of Christianity, 
it is the great cardinal doctrine of Christianity 
which this institution singles out and comme- 
morates. It is the death of the Lord Jesus 
Christ it shows forth, as often as it is ob- 
served, — 

Christ and His cross is all its theme, 

The mystery that it speaks 
Is scandal in the Jews' esteem, 

And folly to the Greek. 

But to thejn that believe, it is the power of 
God unto salvation. Jesus Christ and Him 
crucified is its glory. Christ our passover 
is here in lively representation slain for us. 
His body is here broken, and His blood shed, 
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 
This great fundamental peculiarity of the gos- 
pel, is the truth of which this ordinance is a 
public, constant, and unchangeable proclama- 
tion. Jesus Christ is in this ordinance evidently 






270 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



set forth among men crucified and slain, as the 
alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, 
the gospel, the glad tidings, the good spell, the 
only foundation laid in Zion, and the only way 
under heaven by which men can be saved. 

Imbedded in the very bowels of Christianity 
and ascending up far above all heavens, this 
ordinance remains the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever, pointing the wayfaring man 
though a fool, so plainly to Jesus Christ — and 
His blood and righteousness, — as the way of sal- 
vation, that amid all the fluctuations of human 
opinion — all the heresies that must arise — and 
all the errors of past ages which, during the 
centuries that are past, have lifted up their 
heads like raging waves of the sea against it, 
beaten back and broken, now lie waveless at 
its base — he need not err. 

The Lord's Supper is, therefore, a testimony 
to Jesus — a permanent, stated, and immove- 
able ordinance in the Church, in order to show 
that salvation is based exclusively and altogether 
on the person, blood and righteousness of Christ 
as a divine Saviour, — a beacon on every 
rock and point of earth's dangerous shores, to 
direct the storm-tossed and buffeted mariner 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 271 



safely to the iaven of everlasting life — or, like 
the serpent lifted up in the wilderness, it 
is a signal uplifted high, to catch the expiring 
gaze of every dying sinner, and fix it in saving 
and healing faith upon Him who is here lifted 
up upon the cross, that whosoever believeth on 
Him may not perish but have everlasting life. 
It bears witness of Christ. It is a living 
prophet — the voice of one crying in the wilder- 
ness of human life, and in every street, and 
from every church — Behold the Lamb of God 
that taketh away the sins of the world. 

Let this characteristic of the nature and de- 
sign of the Lord's Supper be well considered. 
It gives to it a peculiar significance, a tran- 
scendent importance. It imparts to it " mani- 
fold wisdom." It is to the system of the gospel 
the heart-ordinance — the very central organ of 
vital power, activity, and nourishment, without 
which it dies and loses its distinctive nature. 
For, let it be remembered, that while the gospel 
receives, teaches, and authoritatively sanctions 
all the doctrines pertaining to God and man, — 
the body and the soul, time and eternity, God's 
power and providence, man's responsibility and 
subjection as a moral creature to God's moral 



272 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



government, — while it affirms, confirms, and 
illustrates all these and many similar truths, 
nevertheless that new and transcendent ele- 
ment which, as has been said, overtops all 
others in its importance, and to bring which 
to light the gospel was revealed and the Lord's 
Supper instituted, most assuredly is the re- 
demption of man by God in Christ ; his Re- 
demption from sin, in both its penalty and its 
power; his Justification before God through 
faith in Christ ; his Sanctification through the 
truth by the Divine Spirit; the impartation 
to him as one with Christ of the life of God ; 
and his fitness thereby for the Celestial realms. 
This whole stupendous work of redemption, 
embracing such various displays of Divine wis- 
dom and grace, which makes the gospel to 
differ essentially from every other system. It 
is this which has always wrought most power- 
fully upon the hearts of men, to bring them to 
repentance. It is this which has attracted to 
itself the most intense affection of the Church 
through its whole history, and has shined upon 
Christians with most effulgent and animating 
light. And it is this, the striking away of 
which from the gospel at once reduces it to 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 273 



a level little superior to that of the writings 
of Plato and Christian sages; which robs the 
gospel, in fact, of its characteristic glory, and 
makes its miracles needless, and its pretensions 
unintelligible. 

The end aimed at in the gospel, and in the 
Lord's Supper also — so far as it regards man — 
is, therefore, the salvation of the soul, and that 
salvation is declared to be in Jesus Christ the 
Lord. You are a sinner. You are guiltj^. 
You are depraved. You are polluted. You 
are ignorant. You are helpless. You are un- 
done. Jesus Christ is the only Saviour. His 
blood cleanseth from all sin. His righteousness 
cleanseth from all condemnation. His Spirit 
quickens the soul. His grace is sufficient for 
us. He is our life, our wisdom, our sanctifica- 
tion, our redemption, the hope set before us, 
our all in all. The word testifies of Him. 
Ministers preach Him. Sabbaths proclaim 
His finished work and His ascended power 
and glory, and righteousness. And the Lord's 
Supper shows what He must work in us, what 
He must be unto us and do for us, until made 
perfect in Christ Jesus. 

It is Christ the Lord, therefore, whose 
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274 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



death is here " shown forth." It is Christ not 
as dead, but as living — as having died and rose 
again, and ascended up far above all heavens, 
that He might fill all things and reassume that 
glory which He had with the Father from be- 
fore the foundation of the world. It is the 
mighty God — the everlasting Father who is 
here celebrated as the Prince of Peace, mighty 
and able to save to the uttermost. It is Eman- 
uel — God with us — the great mystery of god- 
liness — God manifest in the flesh, that as Gocl 
incarnate He might thus purchase the church 
with His own blood; we here see unveiled and 
brought down to our familiar comprehension. 

And as baptism, the only other sacrament of 
the church, is unto the ISiame and a consecra- 
tion to the worship, of the Father, and the Son. 
and the Holy Ghost — the Triune God ; so the 
Supper of the Lord, w T hich opens sweet com- 
munion with Jesus at his table, brings with it, 
also, a heartfelt enjoyment of the favor, love, 
and personal communion through Jesus, with 
all the Persons of the Godheajj. At the table 
of the Lord, therefore, we enter into a most 
blessed and soul-satisfying apprehension of 
redemption by Jesus, through the appointment 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 275 



and covenant love of God the Father, and the 
quickening, renewing, and sealing grace of 
God the Holy Ghost. The blessed Spirit thus 
witnesses with our spirits, that we are the 
sons of God. 

The Lord's Supper is thus an epitome of the 
gospel, compressing in one expressive service 
those leading facts, which constitute its great 
truths. It is a syllabus of what is more fully 
delivered in the gospels and epistles. It is an 
index, directing the inquirer to the most pro- 
minent and important subjects. It is a picto- 
rial representation of the Gospel, bringing into 
the central foreground in order to give them 
lustre and effect, those objects to which all 
the other parts of the picture are subservient, 
and to which, as the grand result, they are 
however beautiful in themselves, only tributary. 

Christ, then, is the end of all the means of 
grace, and the means toward the great end — 
the prize of our high calling. And to discern 
this truth in this sacrament — to understand, 
receive and heartily embrace it — and to be led 
in our helpless weakness to Christ, — having re- 
ceived Him, to walk in Him, to lean on Him, 
and to look to Him for grace and mercy ac- 
cording to our need — this is the great blessing 



276 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



of the ordinance, without which none should 
be satisfied, and to which all others will be 
added according to His good pleasure. 

Look, then, dear reader, to this ordinance 
for that which it is ordained to accomplish as 
its grand and glorious result. It is a school- 
master to bring you to Christ. It is a gentle 
hand that would lead you to see Jesus. It is 
a glass in which you may see mirrored all the 
lineaments of His blessed countenance. It is 
a river of life, in which are reflected the beams 
of this Sun of Righteousness, and from which 
you may draw plentifully the water of life. 
This is the way along which Christ is passing, 
so that whether you are blind, or halt, or lame, 
or sick, or low in stature like Zaccheus so as 
to require to climb in order to attract His no- 
tice, you may still cry aloud, "Lord have 
mercy on me." The Lord's Supper is the 
Lord preaching to you, and saying, " Come 
unto Me, and I will give you rest. ,, It is the 
Lord looking upon you, approaching you, 
coming very near to you, talking with you, 
that as a Prince and Saviour He may give 
you repentance and remission of sins, accord- 
ing to your need. 

Let Christ, then, — Christ as a prophet, 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 271 



priest, and King — Christ as a reprover, puri- 
fier, and preserver — Christ as a physician, a 
leader, and a ruler — Christ as a sovereign, 
almighty, and all-sufficient Redeemer, Lord 
and Master — as well as Christ a friend, a paci- 
fier, and a tender, affectionate, and sympa- 
thizing High Priest — be that which you seek in 
coming to His table. Submit your soul to 
Him, and let Him do towards you as seemeth 
to Him good. Be not anxious. Let not your 
heart be troubled. In the world you shall 
have tribulation, but be of good cheer, since it 
is through much tribulation we must all enter 
the kingdom of God. Be not disappointed if 
the way of the cross is your way to the crown, 
and a day of weary toil your preparation for a 
night of rest, and quietness, and peace. Vv T hat 
matters it to the traveller who is hastening to 
home and loved ones, if the way is rough and 
thorny ? And what need the Christian care 
what may be the nature of the way, so that 
he may but safely reach his home, 

Where he shall bathe his weary soul 

In seas of heavenly rest. 
And not a wave of trouble roll 

Across his peaceful breast. 

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If we would conquer, we must fight. If we 
would reach the prize, we must run. If we 
would reign with Christ, we must suffer also 
with Him. And if we would be glorified to- 
gether with Him, we must be sanctified and 
made holy by Him. If we would ascend the 
holy hill of God, we must pass through the 
valley of humiliation. If we would rise still 
higher to heights of glory, we must overtop the 
hill Difficulty and the slough of Despond. And 
if ever we enter the gates of the city and the 
land of Beulah, it will be after enduring the 
cross in the town of Vanity, and after encoun- 
tering many a hard struggle with giant Despair, 
and the dark phantom spectre in the valley of 
the shadow of death. 

Let this, then, be the burden of your prayer 
and the sum and substance of your desires in 
coming to the Lord's Supper — 

That you may grow 

In faith, and love, and every grace ; 
May more of His salvation know, 

And seek more earnestly his face. 

Only let this blessing be made yours, and then, 
come what will, whether lights or shadows, 
smiles or frowns, chastening or consolation, 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 279 



disappointment and distress, or delight and joy, 
you will feel assured that all things arc gained, 
and that you are Christ's ; and you will hear 
Christ saying, "It is I. I am with thee; be 
not afraid, I will not leave you comfortless, 
only belie ve." 

Whatever trials I employ, 

From self and pride do set you free, 

And break the schemes of earthly joy, 
That you mayest seek your all in me. 

Then leaning on your beloved, and desiring 
light and life from Him, songs will be put into 
your mouth, and you can sweetly sing, — 

Thus far the Lord has led me on, 
And made His truth and mercy known, 
My hopes and fears alternate rise, 
And comforts mingle with my sighs. 

Through this wide wilderness I roam, 
Far distant from my blissful home ; 
Lord, let thy presence be my stay, 
And guard me in this dangerous way. 

Temptations every where annoy, 
And sins and snares my peace destroy ; 
My earthly joys are from me torn, 
And oft an absent God I mourn. 



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My soul with vayious tempests tossed. 
Her hopes o'erturned, her projects crossed, 
Sees every day new straits attend, 
And wonders where the scene will end. 

Is this, dear Lord, that thorny road, 
Which leads us to the mount of God ? 
Are these the toils thy people know, 
While in this wilderness below ? 

J Tis even so ; thy faithful love 
Doth all thy children's graces prove : 
'Tis thus our pride and self must fall, 
That Jesus may be All in all. 

The honor and glory of Membership in Christ's 
Church, and how disciples should therefore 
live and act. 

Consider, then, dear reader, your high call- 
ing — your glorious birthright — your unspeak- 
able blessedness in being a fellow-citizen with 
the saints, a member of the household of God, 
an heir of God, a follower of the Lamb, a dis- 
ciple of the Lord, a member of Christ's body, 
no longer a stranger and foreigner, or an enemy 
or a servant, but a friend of Him whose favor 
is life, and whose loving-kindness is better than 
life. 

"This honor hath all the saints;" and it is 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 281 



this glory which illustrates and adorns the most 
exalted personage of earth as much as the low- 
liest of its poor and unnoticed guest, that comes 
in poverty of spirit, if not in poverty of outward 
condition to sit in heavenly places in Christ 
Jesus, at the marriage supper of the Lamb. 

At the coronation of his majesty George III., 
after the anointing was over in the Abbey, 
and the crown put upon his head with great 
shouting, the two archbishops came to hand 
him down from the throne to receive the sacra- 
ment. His majesty told them he would not go 
to the Lord's Supper, and partake of that ordi- 
nance with the crown upon his head ; for he 
looked upon himself, when appearing before 
the King of Kings, in no other character than 
in that of an humble Christian. The bishops 
replied that, although there was no precedent 
for this, it should be complied with. Imme- 
diately he put off his crown, and laid it aside ; 
he then required that the same should be done 
with respect to the queen. It was answered 
that her crown was pinned to her head, that it 
could not be easily taken off. To which the king 
replied, " Well, let it be reckoned a part of her 
dress, and in no other light." " When I saw 



282 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



and heard this," says the narrator, i: it warmed 
my heart towards him ; and I could not help 
thinking, that there would be something good 
found about him towards the Lord God of 
Israel." 

" Church fellowship," saysBunyan, "rightly 
managed, is the glory of all the world. Xo 
place, no community, no fellowship is adorned 
and bespangled with such beauties as is a 
church rightly knit together to their Head, and 
lovingly serving one another. Christians are 
like the several flowers in a garden, that have 
upon each of them the dew of heaven, which, 
being shaken by the wind, let fall their dew at 
each other's roots, whereby they are jointly 
nourished and become nourishers of one an- 
other. Oh, how happy," he adds, "is he who 
is not only a visible but also an invisible saint. 
He shall never be blotted out of the book of 
God's eternal grace and mercy. 

" This is the man with whom God is, in whom 
God works and walks, — a man, whose motion 
is governed and steered by the mighty hand of 
God and the effectual working of his power. 
Here is a man ! 

"This man, by the power of God's might. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



which worketh in him, is able to cast a whole 
world behind him, with all the lusts and plea- 
sures of it, and to charge through all the diffi- 
culties that men and devils can set against 
him. Here is a man ! 

" This man is travelling ' to Mount Zion, the 
heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, 
and to an innumerable company of angels and 
the spirits of just men made perfect, to God 
the Judge of all, and to Jesus.' Here is a 
man! 

" This man can look upon death with com- 
fort, can laugh at destruction when it cometh, 
and long to hear the sound of the last trump, 
and to see the Judge coming in the clouds of 
heaven. Here is a man, indeed ! 

" ' The angel of the Lord encampeth about 
them that fear him, and delivereth them.' This, 
therefore, he says, is a glorious privilege of 
the men ' that fear the Lord.' Alas ! there are 
some of them so mean, that they are counted 
not worth taking notice of by the high ones of 
the world ; but their betters do respect them. 
The angels of God count not themselves too 
good to attend on them, and camp about them 
to deliver them. This, then, is the man that 



284 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



hath his angel to wait on him, even he that 
feareth the Lord." 

Oh, how blind and besotted are the children 
of this world, who see in Christ no beauty and 
comeliness wherefore they should desire Him, 
although altogether lovely; and who see no 
glory in the Christian, though he is a prince in 
Israel, and has power with God ; who see no 
glory in the Church, though it is the palace of 
the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, the joy 
of the whole earth, an eternal excellency, of 
which it is said, "Thy God is thy glory." 
Like Elijah's servants, they can see nothing 
but earth, earth ; feel no desire but for man's 
favor, and no fear but of man's wrath. But 
when their eyes are unsealed, how do they be- 
hold the chariots of the Lord and the Lord 
transfigured, and the earth and all its glory 
obscured in the greater glory of Zion, which 
is now fair as the sun, clear as the moon, and 
terrible as an army with banners. 

Oh, how do Christians then look as if their 
faces did shine, and they were the excellent 
ones of the earth, the friends and favorites of 
God. So it was when Bunyan listened to 
those poor women of Bedford, of whom he tells 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 285 



us : " One day, the good providence of God 
called me to Bedford, to work at my calling ; 
and in one of the streets of that town, I came 
where there were three or four poor women sit- 
ting at a door in the sun, talking about the 
things of God ; and being now willing to hear 
their discourse, I drew near to hear what was 
said, for I was now a brisk talker myself in the 
matters of religion ; but I may say, ' I heard, 
but I understood not,' for they were far above, 
out of my reach. Their talk was about a new 
birth, the work of God in their hearts, as also 
how they were convinced of their miserable 
state by nature. They talked how God had 
visited their souls with his love in the Lord 
Jesus, and with what words and promises they 
had been refreshed, comforted, and supported 
against the temptations of the devil ; and me- 
thought they spake as if joy did make them 
speak ; they spake with such pleasantness, that 
they were, to me, as if they had found a new 
world, as if they were people that dwelt alone, 
and were not to be reckoned among their 
neighbors." 

With what earnest, laborious jealousy did 
this set Bunyan about seeking a participation 
24 



286 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



in their heavenly joy. " Oh," says he, " how 
I loved those words that spoke of a Christian's 
calling, as when the Lord said to one, 'Follow 
rae;' and to another, ' Come after me?' Oh, 
thought I, that he would say so to me, too ! 
How gladly would I run after him ! I cannot 
now express with what longings and breathings 
in my soul I cried to Christ to call me. Thus 
I continued for a time, all in a flame to be con- 
verted to Jesus Christ. I also did see such 
glory in a converted state that I could not be 
contented without a share therein. Gold ! — 
could it have been gotten for gold — what would 
I have given for it ? Had I a whole world, it 
had all gone, ten thousand times over, that my 
soul might have been in a converted state. 

" How lovely was every one in my eyes that 
I thought to be converted, whether man or 
woman ! They shone, they walked like a peo- 
ple that carried the broad seal of heaven about 
them. Oh ! I saw the ' lot had fallen to them 
in pleasant places, and they had a goodly 
heritage.' 

"While I thought," adds Bunyan, " of that 
blessed ordinance of Christ, which was his last 
supper with his disciples before his death, that 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 287 



Scripture — ' Do this in remembrance of me' — 
was made a very precious word to me ; for by 
it the Lord did come down upon my conscience 
with the discovery of his death for my sins, 
and, as I then felt, did as if he plunged me in 
the virtue of the same. Were my soul in but 
such a good condition, and were I but sure of 
it, oh, how rich should I esteem myself, though 
blessed with but bread and water. 

"About this time," he tells us, " the state 
and happiness of these poor people at Bedford 
was thus, in a kind of vision, presented to me. 
I saw, as if they were on the sunny side of 
some high mountain, there refreshing them- 
selves with the pleasant beams of the sun, 
while I was shivering and shrinking in the 
cold, afflicted with frost, snow, and dark clouds. 
Methought, also, betwixt me and them stood a 
wall, that did encompass about this mountain ; 
now through this wall my soul did greatly de- 
sire to pass ; concluding, if I could, that I 
would even go into the very midst of them, and 
there also comfort myself with the heat of 
their sun. 

" About this wall I bethought myself to go 
again and again — still praying as I went — to 



288 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



see if I could find some way or passage by 
which I might enter therein ; but none could 
I find for some time. At last, I saw as it were 
a narrow gap, like a little doorway in the wall, 
through which I attempted to pass. Now, the 
passage being very strait and narrow, I made 
many efforts to get in, but all in vain — even 
until I was well-nigh beat out, by striving to 
get in ; at last, with great sidling, my shoulders 
and my whole body got in ; then I was exceed- 
ingly glad, went and sat down in the midst of 
them, and so was comforted by the light and 
heat of their sun. 

"Now this wall and mountain were thus 
made out to me : The mountain signified the 
church of the living God ; the sun that shone 
thereon, the comfortable shining of His mer- 
ciful face on those that were therein ; the wall, 
I thought, was the world, that did make sepa- 
ration between Christians and the world ; and 
the gap that was in the wall, I thought, was 
Jesus Christ, who is the way to God the Father ; 
for Jesus said, in his reply to Thomas, ' I am 
the way, and the truth, and the life ; no man 
cometh to the Father but by me' — ' Because 
strait is the gate and narrow is the way 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 289 



which leadeth unto life, and few there be that 
find it/ 

"But forasmuch as the passage was wonder- 
ful narrow, even so narrow that I could not 
but with great difficulty enter in thereat, it 
showed me that none could enter into life but 
those that were in downright earnest, and un- 
less, also, they left that wicked world behind 
them ; for here was only room for body and 
soul, and not for body and soul and sin. ,, 

Remember, then, dear reader, from what 
depths thou hast been raised, and to what 
height thou hast been exalted — what thou wert 
in thyself, and what thou art in Christ — the 
greatness of thy misery and danger and de- 
served damnation, and the greatness of sal- 
vation — the light afflictions which can possibly 
afflict you here, and the exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory that is treasured up for you in 
heaven — and live, and love, and act, and suffer, 
and work, and give, as becometh the children 
of a king, and the expectant heirs of a crown of 
glory that fadeth not away. 

You will have many discouragements from 
within, from without, from the world, the flesh, 
and the devil. The Tempter will come upon you 
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290 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



with such suggestions as he did to Bunyan : 
" ' You are very hot for mercy, but I will cool 
you. This frame shall not last always ; many 
have been as hot as you are for a space, but 
I have quenched their zeal/ And with this, 
such-and-such who had fallen off would be set 
before my eyes. Then I would be afraid that 
I should do so too ; but, thought I, I am glad 
this comes into my mind ; well, I will watch, 
and take what care I can. ' Though you do,' 
said Satan, ' I would be too hard for you. I 
will cool you insensibly, by degrees, by little 
and little. What care I,' saith he, ' though 
I be some years in chilling thy heart, if I can 
do so at last 1' These things brought me into 
great straits ; for, as I at present could not find 
myself fit for present death, so I thought to 
live long would make me more unfit, for time 
would make me forget all, and wear even the 
remembrance of the evil of sin, the worth of 
heaven, and the need I had of the blood of 
Christ to wash me, both out of mind and out 
of thought ; but I thank Jesus Christ that these 
things did not at present slack my crying, but 
did rather put me more upon it." 

As God has created you worthy not only to 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 291 



believe in His Son, but also to confess Him 
before the world, and to be a witness for Him, 
perhaps a standard-bearer, a teacher of babes, 
a wife, a mother, a father, a Sabbath-school 
teacher, a co-worker with all that are zealous 
in every good work — watch and be saved. 
Wear His name on your foreheads. Bend His 
word as a necklace about your neck. Let your 
feet be shod with the preparation of the gospel 
of peace. Take the helmet of salvation and 
the sword of the Spirit, and being thus clothed 
in the whole panoply of God, fight manfully 
the good fight of faith. Fight not uncertainly, 
as one that beateth the air. When weak, look 
for strength to Jesus. When fallen, arise, and 
Christ will give power to the faint, and thou 
shalt be made a conqueror, and more than con- 
queror, through Him that hath loved you. 

" You cannot," to use once more the words 
of Bunyan, "be there where no eyes are upon 
you ; you are a spectacle to God, angels, and 
men ; and being exalted to the profession of 
Christianity, and also to the communion of 
God and saints, you can neither stand nor fall 
by yourself, but the name and cause and people 
of God shall, in some sense, stand and fall with 



292 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



you ; yea, let us have joy in thee, brother ; re- 
fresh our spirits in the Lord. We have con- 
fidence in thee, that thou wilt be circumspect to 
the adorning of the doctrine of God our Saviour. 
" Do not flatter yourself with a position 
among the sons of God unless you live like His 
sons. When we see a king's son playing with 
a beggar, this is unbecoming ; so if you really 
be the King's children, live like the King's 
children ; if ye be risen with Christ, set your 
affections on things above and not on things 
below. When you come together, talk of what 
your Father promises you. You should all 
love your Father's will, and be content and 
pleased with the exercises you meet with in the 
world; if you are the children of God, live 
together lovingly ; if the world quarrel with 
you, it is no matter, but it is sad if you quarrel 
together : if this be among you, it is the sign 
of ill-breeding : it is according to no rules that 
you have in the Word of God. Dost thou see 
a soul that has the image of God in him ? Save 
him, love him : say, ' This man and I must go 
to heaven one day.' Save one another; do 
good for one another : if any wrong you, pray 
to God to right you, and love the brotherhood. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 293 



" ' Remember, man, if the grace of God 
hath taken hold of thy soul, thou art a man of 
another world, and, indeed, a subject of an- 
other and more noble kingdom — the kingdom 
of God — which is the kingdom of the gospel, 
of faith, of grace, of righteousness, and the 
kingdom of heaven hereafter. In those things 
thou shouldst exercise thyself, not making 
heavenly things, which God hath bestowed 
upon thee, stoop to things that are of the world ; 
but rather here beat down the body, hoist up 
thy mind to the things that are above, and 
practically hold forth before all the world that 
blessed word of life. 

" I doubt the faith of many," he declares, 
"and fear that it will prove no better than the 
faith of devils in the day of the Lord ; for it is 
without life and soul to that which is good. For 
where is the man which walketh with the cross 
on his shoulders ? Where is the man zealous 
of moral holiness ? For those things, indeed, 
which have nothing of the cross of the purse, 
or the cross of the belly, or the cross of the back, 
or the cross of the vanity of household affairs 
— I find many busy sticklers ; but self-denial, 
charity, purity in life and conversation are 



294 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



almost turned quite out of doors among pro- 
fessors. But, man of God, do thou be singular ! 
Singularity in godliness, if it be in godliness, 
no man should be ashamed of. Holiness is a 
rare thing now in the world. 

" The design of this exhortation," he says, 
" was, and is, that naming the name of Christ 
should be accompanied with such a life of holi- 
ness as shall put additional lustre upon that 
name whenever it is named in a religious way." 
Such a lustre he himself determined to shed 
upon the name of Christ. " For my part," he 
says, " I had rather be a pattern and example 
of piety, rather my life should be instructing 
to the saints and condemning to the world, with 
Noah and Lot, than hazard myself among the 
multitude of the drossy. I know that many 
professors will fall short of eternal life ; and 
my judgment tells me they will be of the slo- 
venly sort that so do ; and for my part I had 
rather run with the foremost and win the prize, 
than come behind and lose my labor. Not that 
works do save us ; but faith which layeth hold 
of Christ's righteousness for justification sanc- 
tifieth the heart, and makes men desirous to 
live in this world to the glory of that Christ 
who died to save us from death. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 295 



" 'Tis said of Hananiah, ' He feared God 
above many.' God continue of joy of thee, 
brother. Our hope of thee is steadfast through 
grace : trusting in the Lord that he that hath 
begun the good work in thee, will perfect it 
until the day of Jesus Christ. It is a strange 
sight to behold those that did feed delicately 
to be desolate in the street, or they that were 
brought up in scarlet to embrace dunghills. 
We speak not these things to shame them, but 
as, our beloved brother, to warn thee. Oh, 
Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy 
trust ; watch and be sober. And if thou be 
inclined to sleep, let that of Delilah arouse thee 
— c The Philistines be upon thee, Samson V 

" Grace be upon thee. The Lord is at hand. 
Behold, the Judge stands at the door. Even 
so come, Lord Jesus." 

Are you a communicant ? 

Such was the question addressed, as the 
narrator tells us, to one who had for six years 
professed to be a follower of Him who said, 
"Let your light so shine before men, that 
they may see your good works, and glorify 
your Father which is in heaven." For months 
had she been mingling with the worldly and 



296 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



the gay ; and in the excitement of her daily 
life, she had forgotten that the vows of God 
were upon her, that she had been "bought 
with a price," even the blood of God's dear 
Son. She had indeed gone with the multitude 
to the house of prayer, but how had she 
listened to the truths there proclaimed ? She 
had gone on with the world as if she were in- 
deed of it, as if this were the end of her being. 

One Sabbath morning, upon being asked 
by one of her gay companions to accompany 
him to hear some distinguished preacher, she 
declined, saying, that it was communion Sab- 
bath in her church, and she must be there. 
' Are you a communicant V was the short but 
cutting reply. Few and simple were the words, 
and perhaps forgotten as soon as spoken by him 
who uttered them, but they found their way to 
the young wanderer's heart. Go where she 
would, engage in what scenes of folly she might, 
this startling question would ring through her 
soul ; and as she answered, " Yes, I am a com- 
municant," that other mightier question would 
force itself upon her, "Am I a Christian?" 

For six years she had called herself the 
friend of Jesus, and now she must go back 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 297 



through all those years. She must recall the 
hour when, in the agony of an awakened and 
convicted spirit, she cried to God for mercy, 
and he heard her cry, and whispered, ' Go in 
peace ; thy sins, which are many, are forgiven 
thee.' Then the trembling hope, the holy fear, 
the new tides of joy which filled her heart, as 
bowing in penitential prayer she gave herself 
away to Him ; then the day on which she con- 
fessed Christ before the world, the resolves 
she formed that she would live only for the 
glory of God, and the good of her fellow-crea- 
tures; the happy months which followed of 
sweet communion with her Saviour, the zeal 
with which she engaged in His service — all, 
all came back to her. She recalled with bit- 
terness the first time that she deserted the 
place of prayer for some scene of gayety and 
folly, and all those years of wandering in which 
she had indeed been a member of the visible 
church, but, alas, had given little evidence that 
she loved Him whose death she commemorated. 
Oh, what a record had gone up against her — 
what scores of wasted opportunities and despis- 
ed privileges — what reproach had she brought 
upon the name and cause of religion ! 
25 



298 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



Again she bowed in agony of spirit as she 
had years before, and asked forgiveness of Him 
whom she had so deeply wronged. Again did 
those accents of mercy fall on her ear, ' Go in 
peace ; thy sins, which are many, are forgiven 
thee ;' and from that audience she went forth 
strong in His strength. He only, the great 
Searcher of hearts, witnessed the anguish of 
his repentant child. He only knew the peace 
and joy which she experienced ; but the world 
saw the fruit of all this in her humble and con- 
sistent life, her untiring efforts to do what in 
her lay for the glory of her beloved Master. 
Now there is no need to ask, ' Are you a com- 
municant?' for her daily walk shows that her 
"life is hid with Christ in God."* 

Remember therefore Peter, and be not high- 
minded, but fear. Remember Lot's wife, and 
look not back. Remember Demas, and be- 
ware lest the love of this present world lead thee 
to forsake Christ and His disciples. Remem- 
ber Judas, and take heed and beware of covet- 
ousness, which is that idolatry, by whose 
witchery the love of many Tvaxeth cold. Re- 
member Simon Magus, and fear lest, having 

* Gospel Messenger. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 299 



been numbered with the people of God, your 
heart should not be right, and you should have 
neither part nor lot in the matter. Remember 
the disciples of Jesus, who becoming offended 
because of His doctrine of the cross, went 
away, and walked no more with Him. Remem- 
ber all those who, having put their hand to 
the gospel plough, have become weary, sat down 
and taken their ease, and fallen asleep in 
Zion. Remember Lot, and Noah, and beware 
of that syren who lurks in the juicy grape, 
and in the wine when it is red, to lure men 
away from sense and reason, and modesty 
and shame. Remember Samson, who gave the 
strength of the Lord to Delilah, lest you also 
lying on the lap of indolent self-indulgent grati- 
fication, yield thy heart to sin, betray the secret 
of the Lord which is with them that fear Him, 
and drown thyself in perdition and many hurtful 
snares. Remember Saul, lest by indulging in 
a selfish, envious and jealous disposition you 
provoke God to depart from you. Remember 
David, and make a covenant even with your 
eyes as well as your lips, lest sin, being con- 
ceived, brings forth sin, and when it is finished 
terminates in death itself. It is not necessary, 



300 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



in order to sin, to have it introduced from with- 
out. It is already within you. You were 
conceived in sin, and born, and brought forth 
in iniquity, and are prone to evil as the sparks 
to fly upwards. Your heart is corrupt and full 
of poisonous malaria which only require the 
presence of the candle to explode. Yea, a 
single spark will kindle in it an unquenchable 
flame. Yea, as in the smooth pond or the quiet 
sea in which are mirrored in apparent beauty 
all the glory of the heavens, it only requires a 
breath of temptation to destroy the celestial 
landscape, and make it cast forth mire and 
dirt, so is it with your heart. Remember how 
the way to Zion is strewn with the bones of 
unhappy travellers w T ho, turning aside from the 
king's highway — the straight and narrow road 
— have fallen a prey to that roaring lion who 
goeth about seeking whom he may devour. 
Remember what you were, what you are, 
where you are, where you are going, w T hat is 
your first great business here, and how soon the 
night cometh, and your Master's voice shall be 
heard calling you to give account of your stew- 
ardship. Remember that your soul and this life, 
and this present world, constitute your field 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 301 



where you arc to work the work of God — even 
your everlasting salvation. Remember that the 
produce of this field is to be your future por- 
tion and inheritance, and that he that soweth 
to the flesh — to self — shall of the flesh reap 
corruption; that he that soweth sparingly, shall 
reap sparingly ; that he that soweth the wind 
of a vain, indolent and frivolous life, shall reap 
the whirlwind; while on the other hand, he 
that soweth plentifully for the Lord and his 
cause, shall reap abundantly in the life ever- 
lasting. 

The work to be done, and the way to do it. 

What a work, then, my dear reader, have 
you to accomplish ! a painstaking and painful 
work ; a self-denying work ; a convincing, 
awakening and converting work ; a regenerat- 
ing, sanctifying and purifying work ; a heart- 
work as well as a head-work ; a work in the 
understanding, the affections and the will ; 
a work in the body, in mortifying, crucifying 
and keeping it under, as well as in the soul ; 
an out-door as well as an in-door work ; a 
work at home, in the counting-house, in the 
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302 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



lanes and by-ways, as well as in the sanctuary ; 
a work for the poor, the miserable, the blind, 
the guilty, the naked, the homeless, the father- 
less, for the young, and the middle-aged and 
the old, for all men, as you have opportunity, 
as well as for your own salvation ; a life work 
and a love work, terminating only in the rest 
of the grave, and in that final rest which re- 
maineth beyond the grave ; and a work sus- 
tained by that love which is stronger than 
death, equal to all trials, and which many 
waters of affliction, disappointment, and trouble 
cannot quench. 

Oh what a work, my reader, is there before 
you ! — a high and holy calling — a glorious race 
— a warfare in which you are made a spectacle 
to God, to angels, and to men. 

Live, then, as in God's sight, and in the sight 
of death, judgment, heaven and hell. Live and 
act knowing that you stand or fall alone by 
yourself, though not /or yourself. Let no man, 
therefore, hinder you in your work. 

Take a few examples of your work, and how 
to do it. You are a wife, a husband, a child ; 
and they who are dear to you, and to whom 
perhaps you are subject in the Lord, care for 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 303 



none of these things, and count the cross a 
scandal. Be it so. You are put to the proof. 
You have here a test or experiment of your sin- 
cerity and devotion. Two masters claim your 
allegiance and your obedience. Shall you obey 
and please man or God ? Shall you obey hus- 
band and parents, and please children and 
friends in all things not sinful or forbidden? 
This God requires. This is the way of peace 
and power, and the way to do them good. But 
not one hairbreadth beyond this are you at 
liberty to go. For He that loveth father or 
mother, or children, more than Christ is not 
worthy of Him, and true love to them is faith- 
ful and unfaltering obedience to Christ. Thus, 
and thus only, can you hope to win them to 
Christ, and to save your own soul. Of this 
I could give you many striking examples, both 
as it regards the power of children and wives. 
Take one: 

A few years since, says a correspondent 
of the New York Evangelist, during a power- 
ful revival in New England, the Holy Spirit 
exerted its mighty influence upon a family circle 
consisting of a father, a mother, and five most 
interesting children. The mother and her five 



304 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



children were hopefully converted. The father, 
who was naturally one of the most amiable, re- 
tiring, modest men with whom I ever was ac- 
quainted, aided his family in attending the 
numerous meetings, and was not unfrequently 
seen bowed down and trembling under the 
power of the truth. The conversion of his wife 
and children in rapid succession, were like so 
many earthquake shocks to the foundations on 
which his false hopes rested. But neither the 
affecting scenes of their distress, nor the ecsta- 
sies of their subsequent joy could melt his heart 
into contrition. He now felt that he was grop- 
ing in a dark path, and in wretched loneliness. 
He who should have been the leader of a pious 
household, was left far behind, a subject of 
prayer, and an occasion of grief to the circle 
around him. Thus he remained for weeks. Ere 
long preparations were made for gathering in 
the fruits of the revival into the church, and a 
day appointed for the examination of the can- 
didates. The mother and her five children, and 
some sixty others, came before the church, and 
were propounded for admission into its pale. 
As the day of admission drew near, the father, 
who had watched their movements with much 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 305 



concern, expressed a regret to his wife that 
they should make a profession at present, and 
requested that they should wait for him. The 
mother, deeply moved, solicited the advice of 
the pastor and other friends ; but, after due de- 
liberation, it was concluded that the path of 
their duty was plain, and that they were bound 
to follow Christ. With unusual decision and 
firmness they resolved to do so. As soon as 
he knew their decision, he became more earnest 
in his remonstrances, and used every possible 
argument, especially with the mother, to dis- 
suade her from her purpose, but in vain. He 
soon changed his tone of entreaty into one of 
fearful threatening, warning his wife if she 
had any affection for him, any regard for the 
peace of the family, to desist from her purpose, 
and wait for him. 'No/ said the martyr-like 
woman, ' I love you most tenderly, but I love 
Christ more. I have waited for you for more 
than twenty years, and now I shall do my duty, 
and as to the consequences I will leave them 
to God/ At the close of this interview, which 
took place on a Saturday evening, he took his 
hat, and uttering some threats, left the house, 
as if never to return. It was a painful sight to 



306 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



mother and children. Might he not become the 
victim of lasting mania, or in his rage and dis- 
appointment suddenly destroy himself? As it 
afterwards appeared, he retired to his barn, 
threw himself on the hay-mow, it being mid- 
summer, and there rolled and struggled like a 
wild beast in a net. An awful warfare was 
waging between an awakened conscience and a 
desperately rebellious heart. He could not, 
would not submit. Sabbath morning came — 
the family, with trembling anxiety for the ab- 
sent father, prepared to go to the house of God ; 
but just before the hour of service, his feelings 
drove him from his hiding-place. He was safe, 
but still unhumbled. He again inquired of his 
wife if she remained fixed in her purpose, and 
finding that she did, he left the house with 
dreadful signs of rebellion, throwing out some 
intimations that he never should return — that 
fearful consequences might be anticipated. He 
was soon out of sight, but not out of mind. 
The family departed ; and the father, finding 
his threat unavailing, returned to the house, 
prepared his person with dispatch, and was 
soon seen in the gallery in a situation favor- 
able for witnessing the ceremony he had op- 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 307 



posed so vainly. And when the ceremony of 
reception took place, and the father looked 
down and saw his wife and five children, with 
the rest, kneel around the altar, he burst into 
tears, and his agitation was great. The step 
was taken, and could not be retraced. On re- 
tiring from the house he felt that he was indeed, 
alone. He began to come to himself — to re- 
view the dreadful rebellion of his heart, which 
recent events had brought to light. His heart 
began to break ; and in a few hours his soul 
was made to rejoice in that Saviour whom he 
had so recently persecuted. He now felt deeply 
thankful that his wife had taken so decided a 
course ; and he considered her uniting with the 
Church, the means, in God's hands, of leading 
him to repentance. 

Yes, dear reader, be faithful to Christ, to 
duty, and to what pertains to your own salva- 
tion, and God will be with you, to bless you, 
and to make you a blessing to your house, your 
home, your kindred, and your friends. But if 
you allow the love of man, or the fear of man, 
or the love of this present world, to bring a 
snare upon you, and lead you to hesitate, to 
temporize, and to do evil that good may come, 
it may be to your everlasting regret. 



808 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



You may be a widow with children growing 
up around you ; and surrounded as they will 
be by gay and thoughtless companions, they 
may wish to be like them, and to follow a mul- 
titude in living according to the lusts of the 
eye and the pride of life, if not the lusts of 
the flesh. What are you to do ? I will tell you. 
I well remember, says one, when about nine 
years of age, returning from school one day, 
with a request to my mother that I might 
attend a children's ball, which was to take 
place the next evening. One or two had been 
held before, at which most of my companions 
were present ; my younger sister and I had, 
however, received no invitation, as it was well 
understood that our mother was "very strict,'' 
and probably would not permit us to attend. 
But on this occasion a note was handed us, as 
we were returning from school, requesting our 
company for the next evening; and as we enter- 
ed the parlor where our mother was sitting, our 
little hearts swelled with desires to which they 
had, until then, been strangers. We asked her 
permission to attend, which she gently, but 
firmly denied, giving us at the same time, some 
of her most important reasons for so doing. We 
felt the propriety of her objections, and in fact 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 809 



had little inclination to enter into an amusement 
with which we were wholly unacquainted ; but 
the dread of the sneer, and ridicule of our com- 
panions, and their remarks upon the unneces- 
sary strictness of our dear parents, overcame 
every other feeling ; and we begged that we 
might go at least once, in order to show them 
that she was more indulgent than they sup- 
posed. I shall never forget the tone of serious- 
ness my mother assumed as she represented to 
us the responsibility incurred by Christian pa- 
rents, in giving up their children to God. 
"You, my dear children, " said she, "are con- 
secrated children. Your parents have cove- 
nanted with God to train you up for his ser- 
vice. How can I, without a fearful violation 
of that covenant, permit you to enter a place 
where every thing you see and hear will be 
calculated to divert your minds from serious 
things. Would not God be justly angry with 
me, and could I expect His blessing in my endea- 
vors to train you up for Him ? Now which do you 
prefer, that I should displease God, or your com- 
panions ?" This was enough. We were entirely 
satisfied, and were able to meet our companions 
the next day without shame or fear ; indeed, 
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310 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



shall I say it, we felt a secret pride in the in- 
tegrity of our dear mother's principles. Though 
afterward invited on one or two other occasions, 
we felt not the slightest inclination to accept. 
The "question was settled, and settled forever. 
And how often, since we reached a mature 
age have we looked back to that period with 
indescribable interest, and with fervent grati- 
tude to our parent for the firmness and wisdom 
she manifested. How much inconvenience and 
expostulation did she thus avoid, and from how 
many temptations and conflicts secure our 
youthful years. Much of the indifference with 
which we have ever regarded amusements of 
this kind, even since the formation of our own 
principles, may doubtless be traced to the im- 
pression thus early made upon our minds. And 
might not every parent by a similar course, 
throw the same safeguard around the future 
welfare of her children ? — Surely such children 
will ever have cause to bless the honored name 
of mother ! 

Or it may be that you are anxious about 
your own soul, and that you have made up your 
mind to join the Church and become an open 
and professing disciple of the Lord Jesus. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 311 



There arc, however, many things pressing upon 
your time and attention, and demanding imme- 
diate consideration. Shall you wait — postpone 
— put off till £ convenient season ? God forbid. 
Listen to the following testimony, and learn 
the devices of Satan. 

Thirty-four years ago, says Mr. W., of 
R. I., I thought God, for Christ's sake, had 
pardoned my sins. My wife and I thought 
it our duty to follow Christ, and unite with the 
people of God. The day arrived on which we 
were to relate our experience to the Church, 
with a view to becoming members. We were 
nearly prepared to leave home, when a gentle- 
man called and wished to transact some busi- 
ness with me. I told my wife to go on — I 
would be along soon. She went, related her 
experience, was baptized, and lived and died in 
the bosom of the Church. But I was detained 
longer than I expected to be, and found, when 
ready to go, that it was too late. The next 
meeting for the purpose I was again hindered 
by yielding to worldly business ; and by the 
third meeting, I had little inclination to go, and 
doubted whether I was a Christian. Since 
then you have heard me profane the name of 



312 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



God, and seen me neglect the house of His 
worship. But there has never been a single 
night that I have not, when laying my head 
upon the pillow, reflected upon the time of my 
conviction, and endured bitter remorse in 
view of my disobedience. But the feeling that 
I had on that afternoon has never returned. 
If I walk, I must go in the dark. I am now 
about fourscore years old ; and had I the world, 
I would give it for a return of that impres- 
sive sense of my obligation to God, which should 
lead me to do the long neglected duty. Oh, 
my friends, as you value your soul's interest, 
let no earthly consideration prevent the imme- 
diate discharge of duty. 

That you may grow in grace and in the 
knowledge and love of God, live then, dear 
reader, for others, for your family, for your 
Church, for the salvation of souls. Would you 
be in health, you must be active ; and would 
you have your soul prosper and be in health, 
you must go into Christ's vineyard and work. 
This is the way, and the only way, to keep the 
life-blood of piety circulating freely in your 
veins, to warm, nourish, and enliven your soul. 
Feed, then, the lambs around you. Take care 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 313 



of the young. Go into the Sabbath school. 
Visit the poor, and the ignorant, and the care- 
less around you, them that are in prison, and 
those who are lame, and pray, pray earnestly 
for grace, for the spirit of wisdom and power, 
and of a sound mind, that you may turn many 
to righteousness, who shall shine as stars in 
the firmament of heaven. Oh, be in earnest. 
Realize the awful danger in which these souls 
are lying, and that inevitable destruction to- 
wards which they are rushing with such head- 
long impetuosity. And while you weep and 
mourn with those who weep and mourn, while 
you 

Weep for the death-pangs of the heart, 
Ere being from the bosom part, 

weep, oh weep still more bitterly for 

That death whose pang 

Outlasts the fleeting breath ! 
Oh, what eternal horrors hang 

Around the second death. 

The Lord's Supper often a converting ordi- 
nance. 

You have, then, my dear reader, living around 
you, an impenitent brother or sister, father or 
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314 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



mother, friends and relatives, companions or 
acquaintances. Live for them. Love them. 
Pity them. Order your conversation and con- 
duct so as best to win upon them and bring 
them to Christ. Induce them to read, and put 
suitable works into their hands. Persuade 
them to go with you to the house of God, not 
only on the Sabbath but also during the week. 
Hide not yourself from them. Tell them what 
God has done for your soul. Be ready to give 
a reason for the hope that is in you, and make 
it evident that your heart's desire for them 
is that they may be saved. In addition 
to the means suggested, induce them also to 
attend upon the communion Sabbath, and to 
remain and witness the solemn service. It is 
good for them to be there. The Lord's Supper 
is a means of grace — a means both for impart- 
ing and for increasing grace. It is a con- 
vincing and converting ordinance, as well as a 
comforting and sustaining ordinance. It is in- 
tended for sinners as well as for saints, for 
unbelievers as well as believers, for those who 
do not, and for those who ought not to com- 
municate, as well as for those who do. It is, 
we have seen, a demonstration of the truth of 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 315 



Christianity, and a preaching of the essential 
doctrines of Christianity. It brings into actual 
and appalling reality man's depravity, guilt, 
condemnation and danger — the certainty and 
fearf ulness of a coming judgment — the ter- 
rible fact that surely there is a distinction 
between the righteous and the wicked, an im- 
passable gulf, which only the blood of Christ 
can fill up, and the cross of Christ bridge over, 
and that except a man be born again, redeemed, 
and justified, there will be an eternal sepa- 
ration between him and Christ, between him 
and heaven, between him and Christians, just 
as surely as there is such a separation in the 
scene before him when, as in a rehearsal 
of the coming judgment, he sees the sheep 
gathered together and the goats left be- 
hind. And when, therefore, " there come in 
one that believeth not, or one unlearned, (and 
who may learn by seeing what is presented so 
impressively before him what he could not by 
the hearing of the ear,) he is convinced of all, 
he is judged of all, and thus are the secrets of 
his heart made manifest, and so, falling down 
on his face, he will worship God, and report 
that God is in you of a truth." 



316 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



So it was in the Apostles' days ; for " they," 
we are told, " continuing daily with one accord 
in the temple, and breaking bread from house 
to house, did eat their meat with gladness and 
singleness of heart ; praising God, and having 
favor with all the people. And the Lord added 
to the Church daily such as should be saved." 
u And they continued steadfastly in the Apos- 
tles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking 
of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon 
every soul : and many wonders and signs were 
done by the Apostles." 

And so it has ever been in the history of the 
Church. The Lord's Supper is the Lord's 
power. It is His rod of iron — a fan in His 
hands — the trumpet of doom, calling sinners to 
judgment, and saints to salvation. It is a day 
of the right hand of His power, when the Lord 
makes bare His arm, wields his glittering sword, 
and commands guilty rebels to kiss the Son lest 
He be angry, and they perish from the way 
when His wrath is kindled but a little. In 
other days, and in other lands, at the present 
time, these seasons of communion have been 
found to be the great days of the feast, when 
Christ stands and cries aloud, " If any man 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 317 



thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. To- 
day, if ye will hear my voice, harden yot your 
hearts ; for behold now is the accepted time, 
and now is the day of salvation. Oh, that thou 
wouldst know, even in this thy day, the things 
that belong to thy peace ere they are for- 
ever hidden from thine eyes. How shall ye 
escape if you neglect so great salvation. For 
it is impossible for those who were once en- 
lightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, 
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
and have tasted of the good word of God, and 
the powers of the world to come, if they shall 
fall away, to renew them again unto repent- 
ance : seeing they crucify to themselves the Son 
of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. 
For the earth, which drinketh in the rain that 
cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs 
meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth 
blessing from God: but that which beareth 
thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto 
cursing ; whose end is to be burned." 

Yes ! many have been the occasions when on 
the mountain and the moorland, in the deep 
glen and the rocky defile, in dens and caves of 
the earth, in the catacombs of Rome, and in 



318 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



the sanctuaries of God, the communion season 
has been a Pentecostal scene, a Valley of Bo- 
chim, a place where tears and sobs, and the 
groanings of suppressed conviction have ming- 
led with the herald's voice of thunder, and the 
notes of solemn praise, and when a whole as- 
sembly have been shaken as the heart of one 
man, by the irresistible power of the Divine 
Spirit moving over them as He did over the 
chaotic mass, or as the wind bows beneath it 
the field of corn, or as the tempest subdues by 
its might the cedars of Lebanon and the trees 
of the forest. 

Such was that season in the ministry of the 
illustrious Calvin, to which we have referred, 
and that other occasion, when, for the last time, 
he was carried, emaciated and nigh unto death, 
to the church, and in the presence of assembled 
multitudes received the sacrament at the hands 
of Beza with such expressions of joy in his 
countenance, and such awful stillness and weep- 
ing around him, as made it to all present none 
other than the house of God, and the very gate 
of heaven. 

Such also was that occasion in the history of 
the Church of Scotland, when the youthful 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. oIcj 



preacher, Livingston, after going away to avoid 
preaching, and being, like Jonah, driven back 
to his post of duty by a secret constraining in- 
fluence, the audience, and even the preacher 
himself, were affected with such a deep over- 
powering influence as to melt their hearts, sub- 
due their wills, dissipate inveterate prejudices, 
awaken the careless and indifferent, produce 
conviction in the most hardened, bow down 
the most proud, and haughty, and bold, and 
to impart a spiritual knowledge of divine things 
to the hearts of Christians to which they had 
been hitherto strangers. "It was known/' 
says Fleming, " as I can speak on sure ground, 
that nearly five hundred had at that time a dis- 
cernible change wrought in them, of whom 
most proved lively Christians afterwards. It 
was a sowing of seed through Clydesdale, so 
that many of the most eminent Christians of 
that country could date either their conversion 
or some remarkable confirmation of their hopes 
from that day." 

And while such cases of remarkable revivals 
in connection with the administration of the 
Lord's Supper are, unhappily — and to the 
Church's condemnation — rare, there are not 



320 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



wanting continual evidence that this ordinance 
is the power of God unto conviction, conversion, 
and salvation to many souls. 

About thirty years ago, this ordinance was 
dispensed at Bermuda, in the Presbyterian 
Church. A stranger from America was pre- 
sent. He had been residing for some time on 
the island. He came to the island a gay, 
thoughtless young man. One evening, in pri- 
vate, it occurred to him, in what must such a 
life issue ? The thought took deep hold of his 
mind, and excited the utmost anxiety. His 
companions were gay like himself, and he knew 
no others. He became sick of his former life, 
but found none to direct him. He secluded 
himself, and was completely miserable. In 
various mortifications he expected relief; his 
severities were excessive ; he was emaciated, 
and his life was in danger. He would have 
communicated his distress to those who could 
give him counsel ; but where were such ? 
where ? They were unknown to him. He at- 
tended worship at the time and place mentioned, 
and the solemnity was the most impressive I 
have ever witnessed. The remembrance at 
this moment is refreshing. The elements had 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 821 



been consecrated and were in the hands of the 
communicants. All was still. Not a breath could 
be heard. It was like the silence mentioned 
in the book of Revelation, for half an hour. At 
this time some interesting scenes of Providence 
were disclosed, and all felt that they had a deep 
concern in the death of Christ. A voice broke 
the silence; it was an unknown voice, " Christ, 
have mercy upon me!" It was the voice of 
the stranger. All again was still as death, the 
solemnity of the assembly was increased, and 
their feelings too deep for utterance. The as- 
sembly breaking up, some retired rejoicing in 
the Redeemer, others deeply sensible that they 
stood in need of a Saviour. The stranger as- 
sured me that he was not aware of what he said, 
his mind was so fully engaged. When he was 
better instructed concerning the person, cha- 
racter and office of Christ, he saw a rock upon 
which he could build, and building thereon, he 
found rest to his soul. He became a zealous 
and an exemplary Christian. Returning to 
America, he took orders in the Episcopal 
Church, and has labored for many years in the 
vineyard, with acceptance and success. 

Some years ago, a lady far advanced in life, 
27 



322 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



attended in Alexandria, when the ordinance of 
the Supper was dispensed in the Presbyterian 
Church. She had for a long time been in re- 
gular communion with a Christian Church. 
For the first time she was present when this 
ordinance was observed by Presbyterians. She 
was disposed to participate, and her desire was 
not refused. After the service of the first table, 
when the rest repaired to their pews, she re- 
mained, absorbed in thought. Reminded that 
others were ready to come forward, she ob- 
served. "I am so happy I could die here." 
Redeeming love occupied her mind. She had 
a foretaste of heaven, and as it proved this 
was the last service of the kind in which she 
participated, for soon, through decay of nature, 
she slept the sleep of death. 

I mention but one instance more from 
among many others. A young person, who was 
just entering upon domestic life, with every 
prospect of many days, was so interested in the 
services introductory to the solemn ordinance 
of the Lord's Supper, that she was constrained 
to give herself to the Lord, and in due season 
to become a communicant. The comfort she 
then was enabled to feel, dear reader, support- 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 323 



ed her during a severe sickness, which soon 
after withered her bloom, and laid her low. 
This service she often mentioned, as the com- 
mencement of a new life, which we have reason 
to believe is now matured in heaven. 

It is true, as may be objected to this view 
of the Lord's Supper, that it implies faith and 
spiritual life in him who rightly and profitably 
partakes of it; and that to all others it is like 
food to a dead or diseased body, which can 
neither eat nor digest it. To administer 
therefore, the Lord's Supper knowingly to 
such, would be like giving the children's bread 
to dogs, or man's food to brutes, or angel's food 
to men. Grant it. And yet so also is it with all 
the services of the sanctuary, all the means of 
grace, with prayer and praise, and all acceptable 
and profitable worship. These are all spiritual, 
adapted to spiritual natures, require spiritual 
motives and desires in them that profit thereby. 
God, who is a Spirit, can be worshipped aright 
in any of these ways, only in spirit and in truth ; 
and he that cometh unto God to offer reason- 
able and acceptable service, must believe that 
He is, and seek Him with His whole heart. 
But it is, nevertheless, the duty of sinners to 



324 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



pray, to praise, to worship and to seek God. 
And it is in so doing they are made to feel their 
sinfulness, ungodliness, and unbelief, and to 
seek and find that Divine Spirit, who alone can 
work in them to will, and feel, and worship 
aright, and who is the only companion and 
guide who can spiritually prepare our hearts for 
the ordinances and the altar of God. 

If, therefore, all the other means of grace 
and services of the sanctuary are employ- 
ed by God the Spirit, to convince of sin, of 
righteousness, and of judgment to come, and if 
all this is accomplished by taking the truths per- 
taining to Christ, and showing them in realiz- 
ing power and attractiveness to the unsealed 
vision of the sinner, how much more may we 
expect this to be the case when Christ is so 
evidently set before them, and gloriously ex- 
alted in His own Supper. And when sinners 
stand by, as did the Roman soldiers, and be- 
hold the spotless Lamb of God agonizing for 
their redemption in the throes of a cruel and 
perfidious crucifixion, may it not be expected 
that their hearts will be pricked with re- 
morse, and they be led to cry out, "Truly this 
was the Son of God." " God be merciful to 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 325 



me, a sinner." "Remember me, Christ, in 
Thy death, Thy life, Thy rising again from 
the dead, and when Thou comest into Thy 
kingdom of glory." 

Merciful Saviour, grant that whensoever and 
wheresoever Thou art lifted up in this holy Sa- 
crament, Thou mayest by Thy almighty power 
and grace, draw the repentant hearts of un- 
godly sinners unto Thyself ! 

Induce, then, I say, dear reader, your im- 
penitent friends to come with you to this ordi- 
nance, and to expect a blessing for themselves. 
For while it is true that professed believers only 
can properly communicate, an actual blessing 
may be communicated to them. 

The Lord's Supper adapted to do good to 
Children. 
Suffer also little children to come unto this 
ordinance, and forbid them not; for even as 
" of such is the kingdom of God," so on their 
young and tender hearts may this solemn ser- 
vice be made to come down like rain on the 
mown grass, to renew them unto God, and 
to cause them to bring forth and bud and blos- 
som as the rose. Of the truth of this fact I 
27* 



326 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



could produce instances from my own expe- 
rience; and there are, blessed be God, at 
this moment in my own spiritual vineyard, 
some fragrant flowers blooming in youthful 
loveliness and beauty, and giving hopeful evi- 
dence of piety, whose tender minds were led to 
consecrate themselves to Christ, while sitting 
as silent worshippers during the communion 
services. Under the vivifying beams shining 
from this heavenly ordinance the good seed has 
been quickened in their hearts, and has come 
forth, first the blade, then the ear, and then 
the full corn in the ear. 

The Lord's Supper is therefore the children's 
ordinance as vMl as of those who have attained 
the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus. It 
is the Father's good pleasure to give them the 
kingdom. To them pertaineth the promise and 
provision of His house ; and out of their mouths 
He can perfect praise and put to shame the un- 
belief of those who are the wise of this world. 
They are dear to Jesus, the good Shepherd, 
who loves to hear their hosannas, to carry them 
in His arms, and to lead them gently beside 
the still waters, and along the green pastures 
of His own heavenly fold. And when He 






WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 327 



comes among His flock to feed and comfort 
them, we may be sure He will not overlook the 
tender lambs. Oh, no ! He will look upon them 
with an eye of peculiar pity, and speak to them 
in the still small voice of His all-subduing mercy. 
"About the eighth year of my age," says the 
celebrated John Brown, of Haddington, " I 
pushed with the crowd into the church at 
Abernethy on a Sacrament Sabbath. There 
I heard the minister speak much in commenda- 
tion of Christ. This in a sweet and delightful 
manner captivated my young affections, and 
has since made me think that children should 
never be kept out of church on such occasions." 
As to the proper time when children should 
be admitted into the Church, much wisdom is 
to be exercised, and no general rule can be laid 
down. The individual character, knowledge, 
experience, maturity of purpose, and othe^ 
circumstances of each particular child must de- 
termine. But when able to discern the Lord's 
body, to give a reason of the hope that is in 
them, and to show by a good conversation their 
faith, and love, and devotion to the Saviour, 
let them, being first proved, and when no 
longer novices, "make a good confession before 



328 WORDS OE INSTRUCTION. 



many witnesses, " and consecrate their strength 
and their unfolding character to the Lord. 
Being thus in the plastic age of undeveloped 
manhood, " delivered over," like molten gold, 
to the "form," or mould, "of doctrine" con- 
structed by Infinite Wisdom, they will come 
forth into the busy world bearing about with 
them the image and superscription of their 
sovereign "Lord and God," and as epistles of 
Christ, written by the Holy Ghost, be seen 
and read of all men, to the praise and glory of 
Him whose " workmanship they are." Planted 
in the early spring of life, in the house and 
garden of the Lord, they will become fat and 
flourishing in the courts of our God, and still 
bring forth fruit even unto old age, to show 
that the Lord is upright, and that He with- 
holdeth no good thing from them that walk 
uprightly. 

The ability of young persons fully to discern 
the Lord's body, and the way of salvation 
through Him, is strikingly illustrated in the 
following facts : 

One Sunday morning, during the reign of 
James II. of England, as a captain of a party 
of soldiers went out to "hunt down the Pro- 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 829 



testants," as they used to say, they met a young 
woman, a servant-maid, running along the road, 
early in the morning, without either shoes or 
stockings. The captain of the band asked her 
where she was going so early in the morning, 
and what business it was that made her run so 
fast. She told him that she had learned that 
her elder brother was dead, and she was going 
to receive her share of the riches he had left to 
her, as well as to her other brothers and sisters, 
and she was afraid she should be too late. 
The captain was so well pleased with her an- 
swer that he gave her half a crown to buy a 
pair of shoes, and also wished her success ; but 
if he had known what she really meant, (for 
she was on her way to take the Lord's Supper,) 
he would most likely have kept her from going 
that day to the place where she hoped to get 
true riches — more of the grace of God ; a 
treasure indeed, for, " grace in the heart is 
glory begun. " 

Oh yes, both grace and glory have been left 
to the Christian in the New Testament, sealed 
with Christ's blood, and yet few so well know 
where to find his will, and how to read it, as 
did a little Irish boy, who, one day going to 



330 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



school with a Bible under his arm, was met by 
a priest, who asked him what book he had 
there. 

"It is a will, sir," said the boy. 

"What will ?" asked the priest. 

"The last will and testament that Jesus 
Christ left to me, and to all who wish to claim 
a title to the property therein left," said the 
boy. 

" What did Christ leave you in that will ?" 

"A kingdom, sir." 

" Where does that kingdom lie ?" 

" It is the kingdom of heaven, sir." 

" And do you expect to reign as a king 
there ?" 

"Yes, sir, as a joint heir with Christ." 

"And will not every person get there as 
well as you?" 

"No, sir; none can get there but those that 
claim their title to that kingdom upon the 
ground of the will." 

The priest who spoke to the boy was one who 
daily read the Bible himself, and wished chil- 
dren to go to school where it is read, which 
most of the priests oppose. He was so much 
pleased with the boy's answer, that he said : 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 331 



" Indeed, you are a good little boy ; take care 
of that Book in which God gives you such pre- 
cious promises ; believe what he has said, and 
you will be happy here and hereafter.' ' 

Thus may children make from experience 
the language of Sir William Jones their own, 
and in old age testify : — 

Before thy mystic altar, heavenly truth, 
I kneel in manhood, as I knelt in youth : 
Thus let me kneel, till this dull form decay, 
And life's last shade be brightened by thy ray ; 
Then shall my soul, now lost in clouds below, 
Soar without bound, without consuming glow. 

A Western writer says that he is acquainted 
with three ladies, now in mature life and 
adorning their Christian profession, one of 
whom was but eight and the other two only 
seven years old at the time of their admission 
into the communion of the Church. These 
cases are perhaps extreme, but not wholly ex- 
ceptional. There are enough on record like 
them to stimulate the zeal and rebuke the un- 
belief of parents and pastors. Some people 
seem to think the conversion of the very young 
an impossibility; at all events, they always 
oppose the reception of a child to sealing ordi- 



332 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



nances, no matter what the evidence of a re- 
newed heart may be. Surely this is wrong. 
An honorable gentleman, a member for many 
years of our national Congress, gave me an 
account of his little daughter, aged eleven, 
who became a Christian. On inquiring when, 
and how, her simple, child-like answer was, that 
while alone in the woods, seeking Christ, and 
earnestly pleading for His gracious presence, 
" when she could not help herself, He helped 
her/' She was a child of great intelligence, 
as well as of deep emotions, and in view of an 
approaching communion, expressed a desire to 
become, by public profession, a member of the 
Church. But as her parents deemed her age 
and experience too immature, she yielded to 
their judgment until the season drew nigh. 
One night after family worship she retired to 
bed, and her parents also. But before her 
father had undressed, he heard her little feet 
come patting down the stairs until she entered 
the room, and throwing herself on his knee, 
put her arms about his neck. He saw that 
something weighed heavy on her heart, and 
asked her what it was. " Father," she said in 
reply, "I am not unhappy, but I am not at 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 333 



rest. I have heard you and other Christians 
say that you never get so near to Jesus as at 
the Communion Table, and I want to get as 
near to Him as I can." What could he say 
but what he did. "My precious child," re- 
plied he, "if that is your experience and your 
desirfc, God forbid that I should hinder you." 
She joined with her parents and a brother, who 
on the same occasion united with the Church in 
the communion. " And never," said this Chris- 
tian father and statesman, " did I see a counte- 
nance more bright and sparkling with joy, than 
that young Christian's face as she sat at the 
feet of her Saviour. She lived," he added, " to 
give evidence of deep and growing piety for 
years, and is now a spirit among the just made 
perfect in heaven." 

Take another case of a little boy twelve years 
old. He had been a child of affliction, and had 
endured an operation of a very severe and haz- 
ardous character. God had given him his life, in 
accordance with the prayers of his mother, — who 
narrated the story to me with her eyes moist- 
ened with tears, and her heart apparently 
yearning for her own sanctification and the 
salvation of her husband and children, — and 
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334 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



that if spared he might be consecrated to His 
service and glory. He gave every pleasing evi- 
dence of a new heart, with new dispositions and 
conduct, and a desire in all things to please 
God. " Mother," said he, one day, "is it not 
the duty of all whom Christ loves and who 
love Him, to acknowledge Him by joining His 
Church, and openly confessing their devotion 
to Him?" On being informed in the affirma- 
tive, he said, " Well, mother, I want to acknow- 
ledge Christ ; but you say that I am too young. 
Now I want to know if I die soon, who will 
take the responsibility of my not having done 
what Christ requires, for I will not."* 

In such cases, and at such an age, I would 
not feel bound to advise, much less to urge 
young persons to unite publicly with the Church. 
But if they themselves realized the obligation, 
could give a reason for the hope that is in them, 
and an intelligent statement of the Lord's Sup- 
per, and of their motives in wishing to become 
the Lord's disciples, I dare not, and would not 
hinder them. I would hear the Saviour Him- 
self saying, " Suffer such children to come unto 

* These are the very words of the little boy, as given to 
me by his mother, as nearly as I could take them down. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 335 



me, and forbid them not, for of such is the 
kingdom of heaven." I would remember, also, 
how when at different times He was calling 
fathers and mothers, and all who would, to 
come to Him and confess themselves sorry for 
their sins that he might forgive and save them. 
He said, " Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn 
assembly." And lest they should leave little 
boys and girls at home, He gave this particular 
command about such, "Bring the Children." 
God's house is the home of His little ones — 
the nursery of heaven. 

A woman once called to see the mother of a 
sick child who was dying. After looking upon 
the little creature, the poor mother said, " Will 
you pray with my daughter?" "It is only a 
child," was the strange answer of the unfeel- 
ing woman, who had got up to go — " it is only 
a child." The little girl pushed aside her bed- 
clothes, and cried out with all the strength she 
had, "Yes, I am a child, but I have a soul." 
What a reproof ! And yet, are there not many, 
many fathers, many mothers, many pious peo- 
ple who fail to make serious efforts to bring the 
little ones into the kingdom of God for pre- 
cisely this reason, " It is only a child !" 



336 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



What will Christ think of such persons ? 
He was once " much displeased, " not with 
those who mocked Him, nor those who plucked 
out the hair, nor with Peter, who denied Him, 
nor Judas, who betrayed Him, nor Pilate, 
who condemned Him, nor the Jews, who cru- 
cified Him ; but with his Disciples, because 
th'ey rebuked those who brought little children 
to him. " Forbid them not/' He said. Once 
also in spirit He rejoiced : but at what ? 
That the multitude thronged His path, strewed 
His way with palmed branches, and even their 
own garments, crowded every spot, and even 
climbed the topmost trees and house-tops that 
they might see Him pass, heard Him gladly, 
and with universal shout rent the heavens, cry- 
ing out, " Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest ! 
Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the 
Lord!" and would at once have made Him 
King ! No ; but when lifting up His eyes to 
heaven, He said, " I thank Thee, Father of 
heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these 
things from the wise and prudent, and hast re- 
vealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for 
so it seemed good in Thy sight." 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 337 



Dark was the long predicted night, 
When last the little flock assembled, ' 

And watched with awe the approaching light, 
And for the fatal morrow trembled ; 

That morrow which their Lord should see 

Extended on the accursed tree. 

? Twas then that, with uplifted eye, 

He took the sacred bread and brake it : 
'Twas then the cup He raised on high, 

And bade the astonished mourners " Take it- 
Take it ; and when this cup you see, 
Poor contrite soul, remember me I" 

And didst Thou say, " Remember Thee !" 
Sooner yon sun shall cease its shining — 

Sooner this soul shall cease to be, 
Its immortality resigning — 

Than this fond heart forget to raise 

Its anthems of perpetual praise. 

Can I Thy houseless nights forget, 
The cold dews on thy temples lying : 

The taunts, the spear, the bloody sweat, 
The last long agony of dying ; 

Thy present gifts, so large and free ; 

The transports of eternity ! 

And is Thy sacred table clcck'd, 

Thine own blest hand the feast preparing, 
And shall my soul the joy reject 

The angelic bands delight in sharing ! 
I come — I come — oh, hear my prayer ! 
Blest Saviour, meet my spirit there ! 

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Come, then, to the Lord's Supper, my dear 
reader, if a mother, with your children in your 
hearts and in your arms, saying, " Here, Lord, 
am I, and the children Thou hast given me. Re- 
ceive them to Thyself, and give them back to me 
renewed and sanctified in the dew of their youth, 
and be Thou from this time their God, and guide. 
Will He not hear you? Yes. He is a cove- 
nant-making God, giving mercy unto the chil- 
dren's children even to the third generation of 
them that love Him. Yes, though He may 
awhile forbear and deny your request, and turn 
away from you as from the Syro-Phoenician 
mother, yet will He not forget or fail of His 
promises. Trust Him for His grace, and never 
give Him rest until He bless you. 

About a year ago, a young man was appa- 
rently very near his end. His pious mother 
was sitting by his bedside, and supposing that 
he slept, she covered her face with her hands, 
that she might repeat the prayer which had 
been her daily prayer ever since he was born 
— that this, her son, might become a Christian. 
Believing that he was near his end, her feelings 
overcame her, and without her knowing it, her 
tears flowed out from between her fingers. One 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 339 



fell upon his hand. This aroused him ; and, as 
if by instinct, divining his mother's feelings, 
he threw his wasted arm around her neck, 
saying with deep emotion, " Mother, if I am 
lost, it will be all my own fault. I will bear 
testimony at the bar of God that you have been 
faithful. " 

When I heard of this, says the pastor, know- 
ing that he h^d been given to God in solemn 
covenant, I could not believe that the oft- 
repeated prayer of his mother would pass unan- 
swered. Indeed, it seemed to me that this, his 
declaration, was an evidence that the Spirit of 
God was striving with him ; in the exercise of 
a righteous sovereignty, selecting his own point 
of attack; taking advantage of the natural 
aifections to awaken in the young man's heart 
that conviction of sin which would bring him 
to Jesus' feet. " The wind bloweth where it 
listeth. So is every one that is born of the 
Spirit." 

That such was the case, the event, I think, 
has proved. God spared him ; not to recover 
entirely, but so that he lived for about a year. 
Shortly after the occurrence narrated above, 
he began to entertain a hope in Christ ; and 



340 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



since then, although confined to his bed for the 
greater part of the time, he has seemed to grow 
in grace as rapidly as any Christian I have ever 
known. Yesterday his willing spirit took its 
flight — no cloud rolling in to dim faith's vision 
in the dying hour. 

That mother's tear, falling before God's 
mercy-seat, was blessed, where other, and like- 
lier, and mightier means had failed. A cove- 
nant-keeper is the Lord our God. He may try 
our faith — He will never disappoint our trust. 

But, my dear reader, if you are a parent, 
seek this blessing for your children now. If it 
is their duty to remember their Creator in the 
days of their youth, and to seek the Lord early, 
then it is your duty, and not merely your pri- 
vilege, to expect that they shall now find God 
in peace. Be not satisfied, then, that you 
have done all your duty until Christ is actu- 
ally formed in their hearts the hope of glory. 
This is their only safety and your only con- 
fidence in looking out upon the raging tempes- 
tuous sea of life, and remembering how the 
cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, 
and the lusts of the flesh, like so many rocks 
and quicksands, imperil their salvation. And 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 341 



why should you not thus be comforted and 
they redeemed? What hinders? " Is any 
thing too hard for the Lord?" Is it not as 
easy for Him to renew the heart of a babe as 
of an adult ? Nay, if there could be any differ- 
ence, would it not be in favor of the child, be- 
fore innate depravity has had time to develop 
itself — before the habit cf sinning is formed ? 
Is there any thing in the Bible to forbid our 
expecting the very early conversion of our 
children, even before they are capable of know- 
ing good and evil ? Not a word, so far as I 
can find. On the contrary, the covenant of 
grace made with Abraham, and the indefinite 
extension of its promises to all who "have like 
precious faith," afford us the greatest encour- 
agement. 

If our Saviour, who took up little children 
in his arms, were present, would he not say, 
"0 ye of little faith, wherefore do ye doubt?" 
We know that John the Baptist was sanctified 
from the womb, and if he was, what hinders 
other infant children from being in like manner 
born again ? 

what a blessing it would be, to have them 
adopted, as "the sons and daughters of the 



342 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



Lord Almighty," as soon as they are born. 
What a relief it would be to see them giving 
evidence, as soon as they can lisp the name 
of Jesus, and hear the wonderful story of his 
life and death, that they love him. How 
would it shield them from the temptations of 
the world, the flesh, and the devil, by which 
so many are snared and taken, in the critical 
period of youth. 

What pious mother, in embracing her darling 
babe, can help sometimes fearing, that if it 
lives to grow up without a new heart, it may 
become a prodigal son, as so many have, and 
" bring down her gray hairs with sorrow to the 
grave." What a relief it would be, if she could 
indulge a strong persuasion, in the exercise of 
a lively faith, that her prayers have already 
been answered, and that the dear little one has 
already been born again. Who doubts that 
Samuel was converted in infancy or early 
childhood, in answer to the prayers of his 
mother, who "lent him to the Lord as long as 
he should live." If all parents should lend 
their little ones to the Lord, with like precious 
faith, and thus dedicate them to his service all 
the days of their lives, as Hannah did Samuel 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 343 



even before he was born, would not the offering 
be accepted, and their prayers be answered ? I 
believe they would. 

So speaks Dr. Humphrey, and so also speak 
reason, experience, and the whole tenor of the 
Word of God. And here, at the Table of the 
Lord, how good, and pleasant, and profitable 
is the opportunity of seeking both faith to be- 
lieve, to urge and to expect this unspeakable 
blessing. 

And if, my dear reader — and may this often 
be the case — you are still young, and the child 
of religious parents, let me appeal to you. Let 
a father in Israel address to you a few words. 

My young friend bring before you your 
pious parents. How are they now praying that 
my attempt to bring you to a decision may be 
effectual ! See you not the tears now dropping 
from the cheek of thy father — thy mother — at 
thy side ; while each says, " If thy heart be 
wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine." 
Some of us can speak from experience. We 
only recommend what we have exemplified. 
We were enabled early to dedicate ourselves 
to God, and we have found his yoke easy, and 
his burden light. We have found his ways 



344 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



pleasantness and peace. We have found god- 
liness profitable unto all things, having pro- 
mise of the life that now is, and of that which 
is to come. And, next to the salvation of our 
souls, we daily praise Him for an early conver- 
sion. "I bless thee, God, for many things," 
says Beza, in his will and testament, " but espe- 
cially that I gave up myself to Thee at the 
early age of sixteen." 

Wait then no longer ; be encouraged by the 
assurance, "I love them that love Me; and 
those that seek Me early shall find Me." If 
the flower be not blown, offer the bud. And 
through all the changes of life, and from the 
borders of the grave, God will honor this surren- 
der, and say, " I remember thee, the kindness 
of thy youth." 

Or it may be, dear reader, that you are 
yourself a pious child, and you go to the Lord's 
Table to weep over a father, who by his thought- 
less impenitence and neglect of the great sal- 
vation, has resisted the Spirit of Love, and 
provoked Him to strive no more with him, but 
to let him alone. What are you to do ? De- 
lay is death. The sentence once passed, the 
Spirit takes His everlasting flight, and his 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 345 



fate is sealed. Ah, remember that the King 
comes near to-day. He meets His court laden 
with gifts and encircled with royalty, while 
attendant angels minister unto Him. How then 
can you dare to approach Him, or present your 
humble claim before Him ? Fear not. Hesi- 
tate not. Now is your time. Now is the day 
of salvation. Rush into His presence. Fall 
down at His feet. Plead for mercy, "and 
pray, and pray again.' ' 

His nature, truth and love, 

Engage Him on our side, 
When Saints are grieved His bowels move, 

And can they be denied? 

Take an example. One morning, a beau- 
tiful girl, fourteen years of age, presented her- 
self, alone, at the gate of one of the palaces of 
France. It was when the first Napoleon was 
Consul. Her tears and woe moved the keeper, 
a kind-hearted man, to admit her. She found 
her way to the presence of Napoleon, as he was 
passing through one of the apartments, accom- 
panied by several of his ministers. In a de- 
lirium of emotion, the child rushed to his feet, 
and exclaimed, " Pardon, sire ! pardon for my 
father!" 
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346 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



"And who is your father ?" said Napoleon, 
kindly. "Who are you?" "I am Miss La- 
jolais," she replied, " and my father is doomed 
to die." "Ah, Miss," said Napoleon, "but 
this is a second time, in which your father has 
oonspired against the State. I can do nothing 
for you!" "Alas, sire!" the poor child ex- 
claimed, " I know it : but the first time papa 
was innocent; and to-day I do not ask for 
justice — I implore pardon, pardon for him!" 
Napoleon's lips trembled, tears filled his eyes, 
and taking the little hand of the child in both 
of his, he tenderly pressed it, and said : " Well, 
my child, yes ! For your sake I will forgive 
your father. This is enough. Now rise and 
leave me." 

Ah, my dear reader, if such agonizing, 
earnest importunity, could prevail with the 
iron hearted emperor under circumstances 
of such unbidden intrusive boldness, how can 
you hesitate to approach, or fail to plead with 
groanings that cannot be uttered or resisted, 
when you come seeking an audience with 

Jesus who knows full well, 
The heart of every saint. 

And who 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 347 



Invites us all our griefs to tell, 
To pray and never faint. 

For as the heavens are high above the earth, 
so are His thoughts of mercy above man's 
thoughts, and His ways above man's ways. 
You are made a king and a priest unto God, 
that you may make intercession for the un- 
godly, — for the chief of sinners, and it is a 
faithful saying, that the Lord of the feast is 
able to save to the uttermost, and that as He 
never sent any away that came to Him, or that 
were brought to Him, while on earth, neither 
is He less able or less willing to grant repen- 
tance and remission of sins, and to deliver 
them that are appointed to death, now, that 
He is exalted at the right hand of God, a 
Prince and a Saviour. 

And this you will do if you are indeed the 
Lord's. For if any man have not the Spirit 
of Christ, he is none of His. And what was 
the Spirit of Christ? Did He not come to 
seek and save the lost ? Did He not go about 
doing good, not pleasing Himself, but count- 
ing it His meat and drink to do the will of 
God, and in securing the salvation of a world 
guilty before God, enemies, ungodly and with- 



348 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



out hope ? What was his life and death, but 
one continued sacrifice of Himself for the good 
of others ; and especially for their spiritual 
and everlasting welfare ? And if you are his 
disciple indeed, you will imitate, represent and 
follow your divine Master. The love that cha- 
racterized Him, and love to Him shed abroad 
and renovating your heart, will constrain you 
to live not unto yourself, but unto Him that 
loved you and gave Himself for you. Loving 
Christ you will love the souls for which He 
died, and to bring many of whom to glory is 
still "the travail of His soul. ,, To live, to 
you, it will be Christ. Life and the world, 
and opportunity and ability and influence, you 
will consider as so many talents given in trust 
by your Lord, who has gone to prepare a place 
for you in heaven, to be employed in winning 
souls to Him, and in furthering His glorious 
kingdom. Yes, if you love Christ, you will 
keep His commandments, you will make known 
His gospel to all around you, "compel" them 
by earnest importunity, to come into His 
Church, and when thus brought within it, 
teach them and their children all things what- 
soever He commanded. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 349 



It is the spirit of Cain, not of Abel to say, 
am I my brother's keeper ? It was only the 
Egyptian who could remain insensible to the 
woes which stirred up the heart of Moses to 
prefer suffering affliction with the people of 
God, rather than the pleasures of sin for a 
season. It was only a hardened, selfish hea- 
then who could forget Joseph in the prison. 
It was only a cruel and perfidious Herod, that 
could seek to destroy the young child's life, 
and fill Rama with weeping and bitter lamenta- 
tion. It was only the hypocritical and false 
professors of our Saviour's day, who not only 
would not enter into the kingdom of God them- 
selves, but hindered them also that were enter- 
ing in. It was the blinded Levite, and the 
wolfish priest who could pass by on the other 
side, and leave the poor wounded traveler to 
welter in the blood of his festering wounds. 
But it should not be so with you, if indeed 
Christ is in you. Having suffered, you will 
have a fellow feeling for all that suffer. Hav- 
ing been long bound in prison, you will feel 
bound with them that remain in chains under 
Satan's bondage, and you will strive to open 
for them the prison doors. Having been dead 
29* 



350 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



and made alive, lost and found, an alien and 
now a citizen, a starving prodigal and now a 
Son and heir, a shipwrecked mariner and now 
rescued from the burning deck of the sinking 
ship, plucked as a brand from the burning you 
well deserved, you will labor and strive to 
deliver others from the same miseries, and 
unite with all who have assisted in securing 
your merciful preservation, and present parti- 
cipation in the glorious liberty of the children 
of God, in delivering them from going down 
to the pit. 

Every communion season may thus be like 
looking into the glass, and seeing what manner 
of person you are and ought to be. It will be 
the re-perusal of your personal history — the 
review of your past life, and of all God's mer- 
ciful dealings with you. It will be a re-awak- 
ening of your earliest convictions, a rekindling 
of your first love, and a doing again of your 
first works. Christ will appear as He once 
did, "the one altogether lovely," your heaven 
of holy joy. Earth will lose its charm, and 
fade before the brightening visions of the in- 
heritance divine. Earthly joys will become in- 
sipid, and transient as the crackling of thorns 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 351 



under a pot, and you will feel that it is better 
to go to the house of God, than to the house 
of feasting. You will renew your strength like 
that of eagles, and taking a fresh start, run the 
race of holy living. And thus girding up the 
loins of youy mind, and laying aside every 
weight and the sins that do most easily beset 
you, you will enter with new devotion upon 
every labor of love, not wearying in well do- 
ing, knowing that in due time you shall reap 
the recompense of great reward. 

I love thy kingdom Lord, 

The house of thine abode; 
The church our blest Redeemer saved 

With his own precious blood. 

I love thy church, God ! 

Her walls before Thee stand, 
Dear as the apple of thine eye, 

And graven on thy hand. 

If e'er to bless thy sons 

My voice or hands deny, 
These hands let useful skill forsake, 

This voice in silence die. 

If e'er my heart forget 

Her welfare, or her woe, 
Let every joy this heart forsake, 

And every grief o'erflow. % 



352 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



For her my tears shall fall ; 

For her my prayers ascend : 
To her my cares and toils be given, 

•Till toils and cares shall end. 

Beyond my highest joy 

I prize her heavenly ways ; 
Her sweet communion, solemn vows, 

Her hymns of love and praise. 

A ivord to those who from whatever cause, are 
not Members of the Church. 

What shall I say, my dear reader, unto you 'I 
I would beseech you by the mercies of God, to 
present yourself unto Christ your Saviour, 
body, soul and spirit, a living sacrifice, which 
is your reasonable service. I would say, deny 
yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ. 
I would say, take the cup of salvation into 
your hands, and pay your vows unto the Lord 
now, in the presence of the congregation. I 
would say, — Come out from the world and be 
separate, forsake also thine own kindred and 
thy father's house, and cleave unto the Lord. 
I would say, First give yourself unto the Lord, 
and then unto His church and people, accord- 
ing to the will of God. I would say, — Be not 
ashamed of Christ and His cross, before a 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 353 



wicked and adulterous generation, for if any 
man is ashamed of Christ now, of him will 
Christ be ashamed before His Father and the 
holy angels. I would say, — Believe on Christ 
with thine heart, and confess Him with thy 
mouth; for with the heart man believeth unto 
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is 
made unto salvation. I would say, — Join your- 
self to the company of believers. Be added 
to the church. Come to Mount Zion. For- 
sake not the assembling together of Christ's 
flock. I would say, Become a disciple by that 
public profession of which baptism is the sacra- 
mental sign and seal, and having thus been 
introduced into the church, seek to be taught, 
and to obey all things whatsoever Christ has 
commanded. And as Christ has also instituted 
the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and com- 
manded its observance in remembrance of Him 
till He come, I would say, — Do this. Examine 
your own heart, whether you can discern the 
Lord's body in the broken bread and the out- 
poured wine, and so eat and drink not unwor- 
thily. 

This you have not done. All these things 
which are substantially stated in the language 



354 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



of Scripture, you have left undone. They are 
to you as if they had not been written in the 
Bible, or commanded by God, or made essen- 
tial to your hope and character as a Christian, 
and a rightful expectant of heaven. You are 
at this moment, living as far as these require- 
ments of heaven are concerned, without God 
in the world, and as if they had no reference 
to you, and were no concern of yours. 

You may do this because you do not believe 
the Bible, or because you do not believe these 
duties to be essential, or because you do not 
think they are obligatory upon any but those 
who feel willing and able to fulfil them. Or 
you may consider union with the church so 
sacred and solemn a transaction as to require 
a man to be fully persuaded in his own mind, 
that he is perfectly able to maintain and per- 
severe in, a walk and conversation according 
to godliness. Or, you may imagine, like Ni- 
codemus, that you may be a Christian, and yet 
not a disciple purely for fear of the shame, or 
the loss of that honor which cometh from man, 
and that you may do many things and yet be a 
Christian, while out of the church, which you 
could not, and would not do if in the church. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



Or by identifying yourself with some one de- 
nomination, you may suppose that you will 
thereby curtail your influence and popularity 
with all classes and conditions of men. Many 
are the shades of particular opinion and pre-, 
judice, or of wilful and obstinate disinclina- 
tion which hinder men from considering the 
subject of personal religion, and of seriously 
weighing the question-: — " Ought I to join 
the church?" But whatever they are, they 
are all alike insufficient, unreasonable, and 
inexcusably wrong. They involve one and 
all the principle of disobedience, the denial 
of God's authority, the wilful substitution of 
self-will and personal inclination, and pri- 
vate opinion for the plain, positive and im- 
mutable requirements of the word and will 
of God. They display the spirit and motive 
— the animus — of all sin. And as he who of- 
fendeth in one point, is guilty of all, and he is 
cursed who continueth not in all things writ- 
ten in the law to do them, and he that break- 
eth the least of these commandments, is an 
offender just as truly as he who breaketh the 
greatest, and as God will by no means clear 
the guilty — " therefore, thou art inexcusable, 
man." 



356 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



Heaven and earth might more easily be 
made by you to pass away, than one jot or 
tittle of that glorious gospel of the blessed 
God, of which the Lord's supper is an ever- 
lasting covenant that shall never be broken, a 
memorial that endureth for ever to all genera- 
tions, and which, therefore, if neglected or des- 
pised, will be a swift witness against you. 

" Of Zion — that is the Church, the homestead 
and birth-place of all the children of God — it 
shall be said, This and that man was born 
in her, and the highest Himself shall establish 
her. The Lord shall count when He wri- 
teth up the people that this man was born 
there." 

" One shall say, I am the Lord's ; and an- 
other shall call himself by the name of Jacob ; 
and another shall subscribe with his hand unto 
the Lord, and surname himself with, the name 
of Israel." 

Nor is the Church alone sacred. Each in- 
dividual Christian is a consecrated temple. The 
Church is a collection of hallowed individuals. 
On each separately is inscribed, "Holiness to the 
Lord'' The Church is a glorious sanctuary, 
built up of individual Christians, each fitted 
and polished by the hand of the great Builder. 



i 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 357 



" What ! know ye not that your body is the 
temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, 
which ye have of God, and that ye are not your 
own ? For ye are bought with a price ; there- 
fore glorify God in your body, and in your spi- 
rit, which are God's." 

Who, then, are Christ's ? Who can hope in 
the Lord ? Who " have put on Christ, and are 
found in Him," and will be "blessed" even 
when " dead," because "in the Lord?" "As 
many of you," answerest the Apostle, (Gal. iii. 
27,) "as have been baptized" — baptism being 
the sacrament of initiation and public profes- 
sion of discipleship into Christ — "have put on 
Christ." "Verily, verily, I say unto thee," 
says Christ Himself, who is to judge the quick 
and the dead, " except a man be born of water 
and of the Spirit," — be inwardly converted and 
outwardly confess and follow Christ into His 
Church and ordinances — " he cannot enter the 
kingdom of heaven." " What will you then say 
to these things ?" " Despise ye the church of 
God," "which He purchased with His own 
blood," of which "such glorious things are 
spoken," which is the "joy of the whole earth," 
and of which 
30 



358 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



When God makes up His last account, 

Of children in His holy Mount ; 
'Twill be an honor to appear, 

As one new born and nourished there ? 

Ah, my dear reader, in despising or dises- 
teeming the Church, you know not what you 
do. Your course, if pursued by others, would 
despoil that Church of its beauty, deface its 
glory, empty it, and leave it desolate, yea. 
raze it to the ground. But it cannot do this. 
It can only destroy yourself. For while by 
joining hand in hand with the gates of hell, you 
cannot prevail against the Church, yet, if you 
hold your peace and will not come in and be- 
come an indweller — God, " out of the very 
stones of the streets," and from the outcast 
rocks lying in waste and desert places in the yet 
unquarried mines of heathenism, will raise up 
children who will count her stones ; to whom 
her very dust will be? dear; who will come 
unto Zion with joy; walk and go around 
about her, mark well her bulwarks ; tell the 
towers thereof; consider her palaces, that they 
may tell it to the generation following. For 
this God is our God for ever and ever. He 
will be our guide even unto death. 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 359 



Say not that this duty is voluntary, and this 
ordinance one not of positive, but of imperfect 
obligation. It is voluntary just as salvation is 
voluntary ; but it is also just as necessary, as 
imperative and as plainly commanded — so far 
as opportunity will permit — as is salvation. 
The same God worketh in them that believe 
"to will and to DO, according" to all His 
commandments. The same Saviour who died 
to save, lives to reign and to rule over us. He 
who said, " Come unto Me," said also, " If 
any man will be my disciple, let him deny him- 
self, take up his cross and follow me." He 
who said, "I will give you rest. To as many 
as believe, I will give power to become the sons 
of God," said also, "If ye love Me, keep My 
commandments ; take my yoke upon you and 
learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my bur- 
den is light." 

" Whosoever therefore, shall confess Me be- 
fore men, him will I confess also before My 
Father which is in heaven. But whosoever 
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny 
before my Father which is in heaven. He that 
loveth father or mother more than Me, is not 
worthy of me ; and he that loveth son or daugh- 



360 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



ter more than me, is not worthy of me. And 
he that taketh not his cross and followeth after 
me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his 
life shall lose it : and he that loseth his life, 
for My sake, shall find it.' 

The obligation to be a disciple of Christ, is 
therefore, so essential to a Christian, that he 
who is not with Christ — Christ himself says 
it — is against Him, and he that gathereth not 
with Him scattereth abroad. To be united 
with Christ's cause and Church is necessary 
then to the very condition of a Christian, and 
is inseparable from it. Every one who claims 
the Christian name, and indulges the Chris- 
tian hope, and looks for the Christian's heaven, 
must surely take upon him the Christian's yoke, 
bear the Christian's burden, and wear the 
Christian's badge ; and can only reject them 
by rejecting Christ, and giving the lie to all 
his deceiving hopes — his refuges of lies. "For 
if we say we have fellowship with Him, and 
walk in darkness — the world lieth in darkness 
— we lie and do not the truth." 

"There must, in every case of well grounded 
hope in Christ, be therefore, a personal conse- 
cration. How direct the command, follow thou 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 361 



me ! How marked the Apostle's formula of dis- 
eipleship, giving first yourselves unto the Lord ! 
The whole man, body and spirit, must be laid 
on the altar. Every power and faculty be con- 
secrated to God. Each disciple for himself 
must make for himself this offering. The Jew 
of olden time devoted to the altar the choicest 
of his herd and of his flock, but the Christian 
brings a nobler gift. ' Here, Lord, I give my- 
self away.' How solemn the vow, 'I am the 
Lord's.' Consecrated by a solemn vow, I can 
never cease to be a hallowed offering. My 
own heart prompted the gift; my own lip 
breathed the vow ; my own hand signed the 
deed ; and I gave, ' 'twas all I had to give,' 
myself unto God." 

If, then, it were absurd as well as guilty, for 
any man to claim the honor of a soldier while 
refusing to join the ranks, submit to discipline, 
and fight manfully ; — or the recompense of a 
servant while disobeying commanded rules and 
neglecting required duty ; — or for a child to 
expect the love and confidence and nourish- 
ment of parents, while gainsaying and disobe- 
dient and without natural affection ; — or for a 
student to expect honors and applause, while 
30* 



362 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



utterly careless of his studies and deport- 
ment ; — how much more is this the case with 
that man who dares to hope for salvation 
through the divine Redeemer, while instead of 
confessing Him before men, he sets Him at 
naught, and instead of commemorating the 
Lord's Supper in remembrance of Him, he 
goes his way, and " makes light of it," " cares 
for none of these things," " waits for a conve- 
nient season," and says, practically, "Who is 
the Lord, that I should obey Him ?" "He 
that saith, I know Him and keepeth not His 
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not 
in him." 

You may think you can do as much good out 
of the church as in it, and that you are better 
than many who are members of the church. I 
must however tell you, that you cannot serve two 
masters — that you must love the one and hate 
the other — that if not with Christ you are 
against Him — if not a friend a foe — that if you 
are indeed His, you are one of a chosen genera- 
tion, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a pe- 
culiar people separate from the world, that ye 
should show forth the praises of Him who hath 
called you from darkness into his marvellous 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 363 



light. It is into his vineyard Christ says, " My 
Son, go and work." It is only there you can 
find the husbandman and the incorruptible 
seed, and the dew of heaven, and the good 
ground, and that blessing which maketh rich, 
and in the evening the promised wages, even 
an hundred fold in the present world, and in 
the world to come, life everlasting. 

" If, therefore,'' says Bunyan, " thou wouldst 
so run as to obtain the kingdom of heaven, then 
be sure that thou get into the way that leadeth 
thither ; for it is a vain thing to think that 
ever thou shalt have the prize, though thou run- 
nest never so fast, unless thou art in the way 
that leads to it. Set the case that there should 
be a man in London that was to run to York 
for a wager; now though he run never so 
swiftly, yet if he runs full south, he might run 
himself quickly out of breath, and be never 
nearer the prize, but rather the farther off. 
Just so is it here : it is not simply the runner, 
nor the hasty runner, that winneth the crown, 
unless he be in the way that leadeth thereto." 

And as it regards the members of the church, 
you are to consider that in the present, earthly, 
visible dispensation, the Church is a field 



364 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



where there are tares as well as wheat ; a flock 
in which there are goats as well as sheep ; a fold 
in which there are rotten as well as sound sheep ; 
a net in which there are good fish and bad ; and a 
house in which there are vessels unto honor and 
vessels unto dishonor; a vineyard in which there 
are dry trees as well as green, and barren as 
well as fruitful fig trees ; a tree on which there 
are unfruitful branches fit only to be burned, 
and fruitful branches which are trimmed and 
tended so as to bring forth more fruit : a family 
in which there are disobedient and obedient 
sons, a Judas as well as a John, and foolish as 
well as wise virgins ; and a body in which there 
are diseased, and feeble, and even palsied limbs, 
as well as those which are healthy. The end 
is not yet. " The harvest is the end of the 
world, and the reapers are the angels.' ' Then 
will come the sifting time, the testing time, 
the time for binding up in bundles, the in- 
gathering and the glorifying time. And then, 
too, all beyond the church — the world — 
the outlying fallow ground, the wild, waste, 
unprofitable wilderness — will be burned up. 
Then, while the redeemed shall ride safely 
in the ark Christ Jesus, over the fiery bil- 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 365 



lows of a devastated " earth and heavens," 
the unbelieving generation that would not 
hear God's warning voice, listen to His com- 
mands, embrace His invitation, and come into 
the ark — they and their wives and children — 
shall perish and sink like lead in the depths 
of the devouring flames. 

What then, thou neglecter of God's ordi- 
nance, will be all thy vain excuses for re- 
maining away from God ; without God as a God 
in covenant ; without Christ as your Master, 
Lord and Shepherd ; aliens from the common- 
wealth of Israel, and strangers from the cove- 
nants of promise ; prodigals in a far country, 
an hungered and yet laboring for that which is 
not bread, toiling for that which satisfieth not, 
dead while they live, without hope, nigh unto 
cursing, already condemned ? Surely, all your 
vain excuses are no better, no wiser, and not 
less ungodly than the ungodly speeches of those 
who refused to come to the palace and the mar- 
riage supper of the King when bidden of Him, 
because one had a farm he wished to visit, an- 
other a wife he wished to please, another ten 
yoke of oxen he desired to prove. And when 
that King of glory shall come in His Father's 



366 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



kingdom to see the guests — then, oh then, if 
not wise to-day — you, like them, shall either 
be shut out and cast into outer darkness, or 
even if it were possible for you to enter in with- 
out having received through His appointed 
means of grace, the wedding garment, when 
the King shall ask, — "Friend, how earnest 
thou in hither?" you will be speechless. And 
then shall the King say unto His servants, 
" Bind him hand and foot, and take him away 
and cast him into outer darkness ; there shall 
be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

But what, you will say, would you have me 
to do ? I am not a Christian ; I am not con- 
verted, sanctified and saved ; and would you 
have me as such and while such, join the 
Church. Not so. God forbid. But, here, 
my dear reader, is the awfulness of your 
case. Your excuse is your guilt, the very head 
and front of your offending, the heinousness 
and inexcusableness and self-condemning evi- 
dence of your rebellious enmity to God. Yes, 
this is your condemnation, that you will not 
come unto the light because your deeds — the 
whole temper and spirit and disposition of your 
heart — is evil. You hide yourself like Adam, 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 3G7 



because, conscious of your offence, and shun 
the light, because it reveals the hidden things 
of darkness that lurk in the chambers of ima- 
gery where you have set up your idols, and 
where you fall down and serve them day and 
night, defiling the temple of God, and provok- 
ing a jealous God to anger. 

Christ, who is the Lord of the Church, is 
also its Saviour. He who commands these du- 
ties gave strength to perform them. All the 
fitness you require is, to feel your need of Him, 
for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of God ; all 
you need for pardon, peace and purity, wis- 
dom, righteousness, sanctification and redemp- 
tion. He is the author of faith, the giver of 
repentance, the upholder and preserver of all 
who trust in Him. The very fitness you re- 
quire for this ordinance He therefore, offers, 
urges on you, entreats, persuades and be- 
seeches you to accept. But you will not. You 
will not come to Him and have life. You will 
not believe and be saved. You will not sub- 
mit, and be accepted, restored, reconciled and 
redeemed. You reject Christ, and then dis- 
obey His commandments. You will not come 
to the God of ordinances, and then excuse 



368 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



yourself for trampling under foot as an un- 
holy, useless thing, the ordinances of God. 

You are in a strait betwixt two. Scylla 
frowns terribly on your left, and Charybdis 
on your right, while between roll the dark 
waters of perdition, and on the shore sits the 
Syren, singing you to sleep and luring you to 
destruction. Before you is the shoreless, bot- 
tomless ocean of eternity, with its perdition of 
ungodly men. On either side are the unscale- 
able mountains. Behind you come rushing on, 
death, judgment and hell, with their fierce le- 
gions of devils, ready to torment you before 
the time, and hurling on you the fiery thun- 
derbolts of God's law and curse, God's threat- 
enings and penalties. 

My dear reader, escape — escape for thy life. 
Cry unto God. Cry and spare not. There is 
none else can deliver. Ask, then, until you 
receive. Seek until you 'find. Knock until 
the door of mercy is opened. Lay hold upon 
God's strength. Cling to the horns of the 
altar, and fall into the hands of God. Submit ! 
Submit ! Yield yourself now unto Him, as in 
Christ Jesus He is reconciling sinners unto 
Himself, as His servants to obey Him. Lay 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 3G9 



down the weapons of your rebellion, and say 
unto Him, Now I am Thy servant, Lord. Do 
with me, Lord, as seemeth unto Thee good. 
God be merciful to me a sinner. 

Wait not, delaying sinner, for God in 
some miraculous manner to convert you. God 
has been waiting for you these many years — 
waiting to be gracious, and by His long-suffer- 
ing forbearance, leading you to repentance. 
And now, even now, He is seated on a throne 
of grace to which He invites you to come with 
boldness, that you may obtain grace and 
mercy. 

Wait not for the Holy Spirit. For has He 
not already worked in you to will and to do, 
convincing you of sin, of righteousness and of 
judgment, of your guilt, danger and duty, of 
the desirableness and necessity of a good hope, 
and a right preparation for death. " Tell other 
sinners," said a lady who had long been wait- 
ing to obtain the Holy Spirit, " that He is 
waiting for them. They do not know it, I am 
sure, any more than I did, or they would not 
grieve and resist, and provoke Him as they do." 
Resist then no longer. Grieve Him no more. 
Yield to His heavenly influence, and depend- 
31 



370 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



ing on his promised guidance and help for all 
your infirmities, cast yourself on that divine 
Saviour whose He is, and to whom He leads. 

Wait not for Christ to come to you, but 
come to Him. Has He not come ? Is He not 
near. Is He not nigh thee, with thee, even in 
thine heart. Does He not at least, stand at 
the door of that heart of thine, knocking for 
admittance, and saying, " Open unto me and 
I will come in, and take up My abode with you 
and bless you." He is not absent though 
invisible — nor far away, though in heaven ; nor 
uninterested, though set at nought so long; nor 
unwilling, though so unkindly, ungenerously 
distrusted. It is not necessary for you to be 
carried by the Spirit to heaven to find Christ. 
Only believe. Venture on Him — venture 
wholly. You are in darkness, but He sees 
you. You know not what to do, but He knows 
all and will guide you right. You have no pow- 
er, but neither had the man with the withered 
arm, nor the palsied, nor the dead, and surely 
He who gave them life and ability, will give 
you power to become the Son of God. " Don't 
you think," remarked one, who had long wea- 
ried herself in going about seeking for Christ, 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 61. 



in some sermon, or meeting, or pastoral con- 
versation, or in some book, and yet had not 
found Him, " that the reason why we do not 
get out of darkness sooner, is because we do 
not believe. I now know what to do. I must 
trust in Jesus Christ, and I believe God will 
enable me to do so. We have nothing to do 
but to trust.' ' Yet, dear reader, this is all 
you can do ; and blessed be God, it is all you 
are required to do. Take Christ then at His 
word, and you may be very sure His word shall 
stand, and that He will make it good. Not 
only may you do this. You ought to do it. 
You must do it or perish. " God commands 
every man to repent and believe. " "Believe 
and thou shalt be saved. " "The obedience of 
faith," is the only acceptable obedience — a 
faith relying on God's assurance, acting upon 
it, hoping in it, and expecting all it promises. 
Justify not, then, your unbelief by "making 
God a liar," and thus adding sin to sin. 

Wait not for a revival in your church or 
neighborhood. It may never come. It may 
come and you be gone. It may come and find 
you hardened through unbelief. Besides, it is 
not necessary. Salvation is a personal con- 



872 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



cern. You cannot be saved in a crowd. You 
must individually, in your own heart, with your 
own power of will and choice, and with your 
own love and desire, be converted and turned 
unto God, and that Spirit by whom alone you 
can do this, is now promised to them that ask 
Him. 

Wait, then, for nothing. Above all, wait not 
for a more convenient season. What are you 
to do in the meantime ? You are mortal. You 
are in the hands of that God against whom 
you are sinning, and with whom you are 
trifling. You are abusing His grace, wast- 
ing His opportunities, dishonoring His autho- 
rity, disobeying His commands, denying His 
rightful claims, withholding His purchased and 
redeemed soul, refusing His offered pardon, re- 
jecting His Son, grieving His Spirit, and risk- 
ing everlasting destruction upon the uncertainty 
of life and the continued forbearance of a God 
already angry and weary of your shameful 
provocation. 

God calls you now — dare no longer to dis- 
obey. God invites you now — turn no longer 
an ear, deaf as an adder, to the kind inviting 
voice. God in tears weeps over you, as He 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 373 



did over Jerusalem, saying, " Oh that thou 
wouldst know, even now, in this thy day, the 
things that belong to thy peace before they are 
forever hidden from thine eyes." — Oh let not 
those tears of the blessed Redeemer dry upon 
your cheek, or fall unheeded to the ground. 
God is sparing you, and has given you this 
fresh opportunity to turn unto Him and live. 
" See then that you refuse not Him that 
speaketh from heaven !" Refuse the offers of 
wealth from him that would bestow T it. Neglect 
that disease which is preying upon your vi- 
tals, and which when once fastened upon a 
human system was never known to relax its 
grasp. Walk carelessly along that bending 
and creaking plank which carries you so dan- 
gerously over the deep and howling cataract. 
Sleep soundly upon the giddy top of the lofty 
mast while the winds are shrieking in frantic 
rage amid the bare ropes and poles, and the 
mountain w T aves are rising up to heaven. Build 
the foundations of your future life, where you 
wish to enjoy the comforts of a quiet life in 
the bosom of an endeared family, on the now 
slumbering but soon to be boisterous waves. Let 
your vessel glide along smoothly without wind or 
31* 



374 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



tide, while you hear the faint and feeble sound 
increase even into the dread rumbling tone of 
the Maelstrom's awful moan. And while you 
flow on resistlessly in ever-nearing circles, until 
the fearful sight, as if hell from beneath opening 
to receive you appals your view, and in fiercer 
whirl, you roll round the dread abyss, sing joy- 
ously and laugh all fear to scorn. Do any or all 
of these things. Do any thing, if possible, even 
'more mad and suicidal, but despise not the 
voice of God which now speaks to you, saying, 
" To-day, if you will hear my voice, harden not 
your heart as in the day of provocation, when 
God swore concerning Israel that' they should 
not enter into His rest." That voice then 
shook the earth, made the mountain to quake, 
and its very rocks to burst, so that the whole 
assembly hid themselves for dread, and even 
Moses exceedingly feared and quaked. De- 
spise not then that voice which shall once again 
rend not the earth only but also the heavens, 
yea, wake the sleeping dead from the slumber of 
ages, to stand in judgment before Him. Oh, 
sinner, hearken to that voice as a voice of warn- 
ing mere} 7 , that you may not listen to it as a 
voice of indignation and wrath; "For if the 






WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 875 



word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every 
transgression and disobedience received a just 
recompense of reward ; how shall we escape if 
we neglect so great salvation?" 

Ah, my dear reader, you may not fear the 
power of man's wrath ; but I will tell you 
whom you shall fear: "Fear Him who can 
destroy both soul and body in hell forever. 
Yea, I say unto you, fear Him. It is a fearful 
thing to fall into the hands of the living God ; 
for our God is a consuming fire, and according 
to His power so also is His wrath." 

There is a voice of sovereign grace 

Sounds from the sacred word ; 
Ho ! ye despairing sinners come, 

And trust upon the Lord." 

My soul obeys the almighty call, 

And runs to this relief; 
I would believe Thy promise, Lord, 

Oh ! help my unbelief. 

To the dear fountain of thy blood, 

Incarnate God, I fly ! 
Here let me wash my spotted soul 

From crimes of deepest dye. 

Stretch out thine arm, victorious King, 

My reigning sins subdue ; 
Drive the old dragon from his seat, 

With his apostate crew. 



876 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, 

On Thy kind arms I fall ; 
Be Thou my strength and righteousness, 

My Jesus and my all ! 

Do this, my dear reader. Do this now, once 
and forever, and then you shall know of the 
doctrines that they are of God, and the power 
of God unto salvation ; knowing, you will grow 
in knowledge and perfect strength in the fear 
of the Lord until you come to learn Christ's 
immeasurable grace, and to feel the joys that 
cannot be expressed. Then shall the Church 
become to you a home, a school, a gymna- 
sium, a vineyard, a field which the Lord hath 
blest, a garden blossoming and fragrant as the 
rose. Then, too, the world and life, and labor, 
hitherto so irksome and hard to bear, shall be- 
come like the wilderness converted into a fruit- 
ful place, a yoke that is easy and a burden that 
is light. And then will the Lord's Supper be- 
come to you a feast of fat things, of wine on 
the lees well refined, pleasant to the eye, sweet 
to the taste, delightful to the smell, nourishing 
to the soul as bread to the hungry, in the heart 
a well of living water, and to the whole inner 
man strength in the Lord, and power from 



WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 377 



His grace, with which to run with patience 
the race set before you, looking for and hasting 
unto the coming of the great God and our Sa- 
viour Jesus Christ. 

Ah wretched souls, who strive in vain, 
Slaves to the world, and slaves to sin ! 

A nobler toil may I sustain ; 
A nobler satisfaction win. 

May I resolve with all my heart, 

With all my powers to serve the Lord ; 

Nor from His precepts e'er depart, 
Whose service is a rich reward. 

! be His service all my joy ! 

Around let my example shine, 
Till others love the blest employ, 

And join in labors so divine. 

Be this the purpose of my soul, 
My solemn, my determined choice, 

To }deld to His supreme control, 
And in his kind commands rejoice. 

! may I never faint nor tire, 

Nor wandering leave His sacred ways : 

Great God, accept my soul's desire, 

And give me strength to live Thy praise. 

SELF DEDICATION TO GOD. 

Lord, I am Thine, entirely Thine, 
Purchased and saved by blood divine ; 
With full consent Thine I would be, 
And own Thy sovereign right in me. 



378 WORDS OF INSTRUCTION. 



Grant one poor sinner more a place, 
Among the children of thy grace ; 
A wretched sinner, lost to God, 
But ransomed by Immanuel's blood. 

Thine would I live, Thine would I die, 
Be Thine through all eternity ; 
The vow is past beyond repeal ; 
Now will I set the solemn seal. 

Here at that cross where flows the blood 
That bought my guilty soul for God ; 
Thee, my new Master now I call, 
And consecrate to Thee my all. 

Do Thou assist a feeble worm, 
The great engagement to perform ; 
Thy grace can full assistance lend, 
And on that grace I dare depend. 



CHAPTER XI. 

A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 

Ah, sinner, that church you despise or dis- 
esteem, or, at least, disregard, is the very thing 
you need, and for which your soul craves. 
With unsatisfied desires and unquenchable 
longings it seeks for rest within itself, and 
finds only an empty void which neither the 
world nor home, nor business, nor any earthly 
enjoyments can ever fill. Hungry and thirsty, 
it turns away from the dull satieties of earth, 
and pines for want of heavenly manna and 
living water. Wearied amid the fretful cir- 
cumstances of passing time and the unvarying 
round of sublunary prospects, it despondingly 
asks, "Who will show me any good?" And 
solitary and alone amid bustling crowds and 
gay, festive halls, it sighs for the wings of a 
dove, that it might fly away and be at rest. 
Yes, poor soul, thou needest rest and findest 
none, and never can find any, except in God 



380 A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 



and in God's own house, and in the consola- 
tions there provided for you. The spark divine 
within thee, 

Like a dim lamp that o'er a riyer shines, 

Still in thy soul sounds the deep undertone 

Of some unmeasurable, boundless time. 

That still, small voice calls to your Father's house, 

The mountain of your rest, the kingdom of the skies, 

In heavenly grace and beauty warm with life, 

With saints and angels peopling all her courts. 

Many thousand hearts now happy and at 
home in the Church, rejoicing in the goodly 
fellowship of the saints and enjoying spiritual 
health from spiritual activity, can give their 
experience in the language of that beautiful 
lyric : 

People of the living God, 

I have sought the world around, 
Paths of sin and sorrow trod, 

Peace and comfort no where found : 
Now to you my spirit turns, 

Turns a fugitive unblest ; 
Brethren, where your altar burns, 

! receive me into rest. 

Lonely, I no longer roam, 

Like the cloud, the wind, the wave ; 

Where you dwell shall be my home. 
Where you die shall be my grave ; 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 381 



Mine the God whom you adore, 
Your Redeemer shall be mine ; 

Earth can fill my soul no more, 
Every idol I resign. 

Tell me not of gain or loss, 

Ease, enjoyment, pomp or power, 
Welcome poverty and cross, 

Shame, reproach, affliction's hour : 
" Follow me ;" I know thy voice ; 

Jesus, Lord, thy steps I see ; 
Now I take thy yoke, by choice ; 

Light thy burden now to me. 

Make that choice, dear reader, yours, and 
this experience will be yours. Yes ! in the 
Church there is for you a home, home-rest, and 
home-happiness. It is at once the emblem, the 
proof, and the earnest of the heavenly home, — 
the earthly fold of the Good Shepherd — the 
well in the valley — the homestead of Christ's 
family, where out of His treasury He supplies 
all their wants, and dwells among them to bless 
them and to do them good. 

The earth's one sanctuary 

Where in the shadow of the rock we dwell, 

The rock of strength. 

To it are given the oracles of God, the pro- 
mises, the means of grace, the feast of love, the 
32 



382 A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 



communion of souls. Here the stranger finds 
a welcome, the alien the privileges of citizen- 
ship, the orphan the adoption of sons, and the 
lost, dead prodigal a joyous home. Here love 
and sympathy, encouragement and kindness 
dwell. Received into this family of God with 
joy such as is felt by the angels over one sinner 
that repenteth, you will feel 

No more a stranger or a guest, 
But like a child at home. 

Here the lost is found and the dead made 
alive again. The weary traveler is seated by 
the fireside, and his heart cheered with the 
wine of consolation. A mortal immortal knocks 
at the gate, and is admitted for a night and for 
ever. The scene and the locality may, like a 
dissolving view, pass from the light, but the 
heart-union formed among the brotherhood 
will be durable as the years of eternity: and 
while the sranger just admitted may be a cold 
corpse to-morrow, he becomes one of a family 
known, in the language of God, as u the church 
of the first-born, whose names are written in 
heaven/' meet for God's golden house in high- 
est heaven above. 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 383 



And most surely is it true that as an in- 
dwelling and adopted sonship in the church 
on earth is a blessed privilege, it is also in all 
ordinary cases an essential prerequisite for a 
dwelling place among the sons of God through- 
out a blessed immortality. For will it not be 
admitted that in the harvest no other than the 
fruits of the Lord's garden will be gathered 
into the Lord's storehouse ? And is it not 
equally plain that only those trees of righte- 
ousness that have been planted in the house 
of the Lord by the river of life, and there 
nourished by the dew from heaven and by the 
rich soil the sweet juices and the reviving air 
of God's ordinances, can flourish in the courts 
of our God. These alone — having stuck their 
roots deep into the earth, and having spread 
them out so as tp drink in the unfailing moisture 
of that flowing stream which makes glad the 
city of God, — can sustain themselves through 
seasons of drought and exposure to the burn- 
ing rays of the sun, to bleak and wintry 
storms, to the drifting snow and the freezing ice. 
How self-evident is it then, that of all this 
process from the first planting of the divinely 
quickened seed to the full growth and maturity 



384 A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 



and fruit-harvesting of the tree, a profession of 
religion is the first and necessary step, a part, 
and an indispensable part. 

It is therefore by being born in Zion, and 
nourished as a babe in Christ at her bosom, 
you are to grow in the nurture and admoni- 
tion of the Lord, until matured in grace as a 
son or daughter of the Lord God Almighty, 
you are prepared for an inheritance among the 
saints in light. 

It is true, sadly true, that such is not the 
view taken of the Church by men generally. 
To them she presents no form or comeliness, 
no grace or beauty, wherefore they should de- 
sire her. They see only the wrinkles on her 
forehead, and the scars upon her wounded sides 
and bleeding hands. They hear only the 
sounds of her intestine broils and public strife. 
They look only upon what to them appear 
her forms of godliness which seem only un- 
meaning, heartless services. She is to them 
only as a tent to which the wayfaring man 
turns aside for a momentary repose from the 
fatigue and weariness of his journey, but not 
as the home 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCII. 385 



Where his best friends, his kindred dwell, 
"Where God his Saviour reigns. 

The Church is to such, therefore, only what 
the court-house, the hall of legislature or the 
place of fashionable resort is to their fre- 
quenters — a place solemn, awful, or pompously 
formal, an arena of debate, a forum of strife, 
an outward seeming of reverence, and respect 
and love, while within there may be nothing but 
hypocrisy, selfishness and malevolence. 

True, sadly true it is, that for such views 
there is often too much ground. A church 
made up of imperfect creatures in an imper- 
fect state, must have many imperfections, and 
fall greatly below the standard and pattern 
of it showed in the Mount, — far below w r hat it 
might and ought to be and what it yet will 
be. In the church, we are ready to imagine, 
one might hope to meet with nothing to mar, 
and everything to enhance our enjoyment of 
the rest of God. It is not however precisely 
so, and the fact that it is not so, is frequently 
a grievous stumbling-block in the course of 
the young believer. 

And yet, if this evil be confronted and sur- 
veyed, it will disquiet less. It will be ascer- 
32* 



386 A PLEA FOR THE CHCTRCIi. 



tained to be an evil in part imaginary, in 
part exaggerated, and in part real and great, 
but still subservient to good. 

That there are on some points different opin- 
ions among true believers is to a great extent 
an imaginary evil. No mind but one can justly 
comprehend all the truths, with all their rela- 
tions, which fill the paradise of revelation. 
Among finite, ignorant and unsanctified men 
there must be various and discordant views of 
this boundless universe of truth. If then this 
Christian sees more of one truth and that of 
another, and if each states his opinion with his 
reasons for it kindly, the deficiencies in the 
general fund of Christian knowledge will be 
continually diminished, and apparent differ- 
ences will be found to arise more from imperfect 
and partial views than from any contradiction 
either in spirit or in faith. 

That there are great failings observable in 
some Christians, is an exaggerated evil, because 
that which is special is attributed to the whole 
body. Were a man to enter a garden, of which 
many fruits and flowers were excellent, and 
bring forth from it nothing but a handful of 
weeds, how absurd as well as false would it be 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 387 



to represent these as samples of the general 
products of the garden, the character of its soil, 
and the taste and skill of the gardener? And 
while it is not less unreasonable, is it not very 
wicked to hold up the inconsistencies and open 
apostacy of a few professors who grow up as 
tares among the wheat, as representatives of 
what all Christians really are ? 

Again. The Church on earth, in order to 
be universal, visible, open as a vineyard, afield, 
and a sanctuary to all, and under the super- 
vision of weak and fallible men, must neces- 
sarily contain tares as well as w T heat, barren as 
well as fruitful trees, and bad as well as good 
worshippers. And the reason is very obvious. 
God alone is the discerner of the heart ; God 
alone knows the end as well as the beginning, 
and who therefore will finally be saved; and as 
the present dispensation of the Church is only 
temporary and preparatory, and the harvest 
is at the end of the world, God has ordained 
that both tares and wheat shall now grow T and 
mature and develop their perfect character to- 
gether. 

The most halt and stumbling Christian, too, 
may often be the most humble and sincere. The 



388 A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 



soiled and tattered garment may cover a warm 
and loving heart. Wounds and bruises and putri- 
fying sores, may be as the rough and carbuncled 
shell that protects the diamond. And of many 
whom the world contemns and the Church 
itself doubts, it may be said that each one of 
them is 

A king, even now a king thrice blest, 
No longer by his foes oppressed, 
Though still he hides from mortal ken 
The flashing of his diadem. 

And is not this arrangement, though at- 
tended with many evils, though it occasions 
many scandals, offences, heresies and divisions, 
made subservient to much good ? Is it not an ex- 
hibition of kindness and forbearance and mercy 
to the unthankful ungodly world, and is it not 
a test of faith and lowve and loyalty to Christ's 
faithful followers ? 

These tares are not the wheat, though 
growing with them in the same field, and 
enjoying the same rain and sunshine and 
laborious cultivation. These scandals, and 
offences, and heresies, and divisions, are not 
the genuine and intended fruits of the vineyard, 
though they are often found in rank luxuriance? 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 389 



flourishing in the courts of the Lord. These 
apostates are not genuine disciples. Such are, 
indeed, in and of Israel, but they are not 
Israel. They are a mixed multitude that go 
up with Israel to the promised land, who are 
now made helpful to her, and whose very vices 
are set before her as warnings. And while 
the Church visible and outward is, indeed, like 
Joseph's coat of many colors, and like Babel's 
voices the many tongues of her divided tribes 
who understand not one another's speech, yet 
among those scattered multitudes there is a 
sacred race, a chosen inheritance of God ; and 
from that din of confused and rabble jargon 
there comes up the swelling sound of blest 
voices uttering praise and adoration to the one 
living and true God. 

Be not then deceived. by outward seeming. 
Many, it is admitted, are the evils, and many 
the divisions of the Church of God. But within 
all these, and notwithstanding them, the true, 
the invisible, the spiritual church exists in its 
indivisible sublime unity. Consecrated by a 
divine vocation, enlisted to a heavenly calling, 
and animated by celestial patriotism, this sacra- 
mental host of God's elect moves forward as 



390 A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 



one consecrated host, under one leader and 
commander, and with one single end in view — 
the spiritual conquest of the world. The prin- 
ciple which prophecies and promotes this union 
must operate wherever the Spirit of the Lord is. 
The eye of sense sees only the outward. To 
it these separate companies, with their diver- 
sified uniform, their distinct leaders and various 
banners, occupying each their several positions, 
and marching to the sound of their own music, 
appear like so many hostile bands. Or, to 
change the figure and contemplate the Church 
as one common family and brotherhood of which 
Christ is the Head, then, to the eye of the car- 
nal observer, the misconception is just the 
same. The stranger knows nothing of the 
joys and communion of the domestic circle. 
The ripples that occasionally break the placi- 
dity of the fountain may attract his vision, but 
he knows nothing of the deep, silent, constant 
love and soul-refreshing intercourse that make 
glad the city of our God. Any man may 
be witness to the confusion and disorder in- 
cident to house-keeping and house-cleaning 
and table preparation. Any man may be wit- 
ness to the many little bickerings and harsh 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 301 



speeches that may break forth, like sparks 
from the domestic hearth, or like steam from 
the domestic urn " which cheers but not in- 
ebriates.'' But the fireside chat, the house- 
hold cheer, the smiles, the jokes, the laugh, 
the pleasant repartee, the look answering look 
of affection, the silent, secret, soul-subduing 
sympathy and love which weep with whoever 
w r eeps, and rejoice with whoever is happy, — 
the inner life, in short, which lives in every 
member of the family and is common to all — 
this he cannot see or feel. " A stranger in- 
termeddleth not therewith." No, there must 
be a vital union in order to a real communion 
in this life, and love and happiness. And if 
this is so in earthly, how much more true is it 
in heavenly things, which can only be spirit- 
ually discerned, and of which the natural 
heart can know nothing ? How much greater, 
then, must be the misjudgment of those who est- 
imate the life and love of Christ and His Church 
by what is visible in the outer life of Christian 
men; imperfect men; men who are, as yet, 
only as babes and children in Christ ; imma- 
ture; seeing as through a glass darkly; and 
knowing only in part. The very perfection 



392 A PLEA FOR THE CIIURCH. 



of love and beauty and holiness in the gospel, 
throws its followers into sad and melancholy 
contrast. They are seen as faces are through 
false reflectors — distorted, caricatured, and 
every blemish immensely magnified. 

Christians are not yet what they ought to 
be and shall be. But we know they shall be 
all like Him who is the chief among ten thou- 
sand and altogether lovely. Even now, and 
here, amid all their weaknesses and deformi- 
ties and disagreements, there is among them 
all a family likeness, a family relationship, 
an indissoluble bond, an invisible, secret, all- 
powerful sympathy. Only let some common 
enemy approach, some common danger alarm, 
some common revival enkindle their affections, 
— only let some calamity common to all occur, 
some death which is vital to all take place, 
some thoughts that breathe and words that 
burn be uttered by any voice in the entire fa- 
mily of God, — and there is at once awakened a 
responsive voice in the w T hole heart of Christen- 
dom throughout every one of its widely sepa- 
rated families. Oh, yes ! and when — as in the 
case of Carey, or Chalmers, or Martyn, or 
Judson, or Williams — some champion of the 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 393 



faith falls in the high places of the field fight- 
ing manfully for the faith once for all de- 
livered to the saints, and contending earnestly 
for the common salvation even until death 
silences the shout of "victory" — and whether 
it shall have been by the labors of his pen or 
by the labors of his life — whether he shall have 
lived in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, — 
and to whatever portion of the church he may 
have been attached, — there will go up a voice 
of lamentation, because a mighty man has 
fallen in Israel. The record of his valorous 
achievements will kindle a flame of devotion in 
the bosom of every soldier of the cross. The 
song of triumph and the shout of victory will 
go up to heaven from every tribe and tent in 
Israel, for the glorious achievements of his 
life and death. His relation to one denomi- 
, nation will be lost in his common relation to 
all. His name and his greatness will be con- 
sidered a common inheritance, and be remem- 
bered with grateful praise and a common 
glorying in all lands, by all denominations, 
and to the remotest posterity. All envy, jeal- 
ousy, and sectarian selfishness will be lost in 
the contemplation of Christian genius and de- 
33 



394 A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 



votion, and these heroes of the cross will take 
their places in the firmament of heaven there 
to shine as stars, and, as a great cloud of 
witnesses encompass the church in her march 
through the wilderness. 

Thee in them, Lord, most high, 
Them in Thee we glorify ; 
Glory, Lord, to Thee alone, 
Who thus hast glorified Thine own. 

Here, then, is the evidence and the earnest of 
that unity of spirit, of faith, hope, and charity, 
which animate every follower of the Lamb. 
And how does this common affection, this spirit 
of brotherhood, break its silence and receive 
audible manifestation in every prayer they 
offer. When, bowing before the common 
mercy-seat, how do 

The saints in prayer appear as one, 

In word, and deed, and mind ; 
While with the Father, and the Son, 

Sweet fellowship they find. 

The soul caught up on wings of love, 
Communes with happier souls above ; 
Burst is the separating girth, 
And earth is heaven and heaven is earth. 

Yes, let true believers only be brought toge- 
ther here, and they feel that they have one 
language, one country, one fatherland, and that 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 395 



they are fellow-citizens of one glorious king- 
dom. Their hearts run together as do the 
particles of quicksilver, and you might as well 
try to separate the confluent atoms of air as to 
dissever their united hearts. Two converts 
from diiferent parts of the heathen world, and 
by the instrumentality of missionaries of dif- 
ferent denominations were once brought for- 
ward at a missionary meeting on the same plat- 
form. They had not known or seen each other 
before. They could not speak each other's lan- 
guage. But through the medium of the mission- 
aries present they were introduced, and made 
acquainted with each others conversion to God, 
and union to Christ and His church. Their 
countenances were immediately lighted up. 
Their eyes were filled with tears. They rushed 
into each others' arms and embraced one ano- 
ther as brethren. Thus do Christians loving 
the same Saviour who begat them by His 
grace to the same blessed hope, love also each 
other because begotten by Him. 

The faith for which saints once endured 

The dungeon and the stake, 
That very faith with hearts assured 

Upon our lips we take. 



396 A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 



Though scattered widely left and right, 

And sent to various posts, 
One is the battle that we fight 

Beneath one Lord of Hosts. 

We know not, we shall never know 

Our fellow-laborers here, 
But they that strive and toil below, 

Shall with one crown appear. 

Oh! taste then, dear reader, and see that 
the Lord is good. Come among us, and with 
us, and we will show you good, and your heart 
shall delight itself with joys unspeakable and 
full of glory. Drinking water out of these 
wells of salvation, and eating meat with glad- 
ness and singleness of heart at the table of the 
Lord in His own banquet-hall, you will feel 
that it is good to be here — that it is none other 
than the house of God and the gate of heaven. 
The electric spark of invisible love will kindle 
a flame of love in you. Your soul will be 
secretly drawn by an irresistible heavenly at- 
traction to Christ who dwells in every believ- 
ing heart the hope of glory. And as you 
sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, worship 
in the beauty of holiness, and partake of the 
droppings of the sanctuary with great delight, 






A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 397 



you shall have a song of praise and thanks- 
giving put into your mouth " as in the night 
when a holy solemnity is kept ; and gladness 
of heart as when one goeth with a pipe to 
come unto the mountain of the Lord, to the 
mighty one of Israel." 

Yes ! I believe her glorious still within 
With beauty undiscerned by mortal eye, 

Yet seen of Heaven. Her glories shall begin 
To come serenely forth, when earth and sky, 
Like morning mists which shroud her, shall pass by ; 

Then like the radiant sun on either hand, 
With beauty clothed and immortality, 

She shall break brightly forth at God's command, 

And filling earth and heaven, a living temple stand. 

When I study, says one, the existence, the 
origin, the moral significance, the sublimity 
and the destiny of the Christian Church, I am 
overwhelmed with astonishment and grief at 
the lamentably inadequate and perverted opin- 
ions w,hich prevail respecting it. Ecclesiastical 
hierarchies, doctrinal sects, religious frater- 
nities — and do these comprise all that is meant 
by the Church? A State Establishment, a 
Dissenting Body, a Methodistic Society, a 
Presbyterian denomination — does the meaning 
of these expressions terminate with the things 
33* 



398 A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 



they respectively designate ? No, verily ! 
There is a great thing among men, and they 
know it not ; a wonder unwondered at, — a 
glory unnoticed ! Is it generally known that 
a great problem is being solved by Infinite 
Wisdom ; and that earth, in the first in- 
stance, and heaven, shortly, are the scenes 
of its solution ? Have men, in any consider- 
able numbers, recognized the fact, that a pro- 
cess of inconceivable sublimity is going on 
every day in the market-place, the streets, the 
fields, the houses, and the huts of this world ? 
— that the Creator of the visible is forming, 
without rest or intermission, an invisible tem- 
ple of living stones, w T hich, when completed, 
shall be exhibited before the universe, as the 
most gorgeous and costly of all His posses- 
sions ? — that heaven has really come down to 
earth, and brought into sympathy with its 
plans and purposes myriads of the human 
family, who are every day journeying to the 
city not made with hands, and growing in the 
likeness of Him who is the Head of all prin- 
cipality and power, and the Sovereign of life? 
— that, amidst the thorns and thistles of earth's 
deserts, grow flowers which are lovingly tended 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 399 



by angels, watered by the river of life, and 
destined to be transplanted to the garden of 
the Lord ? — and that among those whom the 
world despises, as it did their Prince, are to 
be found men who shall ere long be acknow- 
ledged by angels as the sons and heirs of God ? 
Is this known? Are these things considered 
when the word "Church" glides from the 
tongue ? The street-passenger sees men going 
to some building consecrated to religious pur- 
poses, on the morning of the Lord's day. 
Does he think what that procession means? 
Is there not a hidden significance, a veiled 
glory, which will not burst upon his mental 
vision without the labor of trying to uncover 
it ? May not that procession point to eternity, 
and signify the power of the invisible? As- 
sume, for the sake of illustration, that the 
proper motives animate the travellers, — that 
they know wherefore they are moving thither, 
-—that they understand the ultimate object of 
the holy convocation, — that they feel the 
solemnity of their profession, — and that they 
devoutly wish for the great things involved in 
their voluntary avowal of attachment to the 



400 A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 



Invisible King; and then, if asked by the 
passenger to explain all, what would they say ? 
A correct answer would startle the querist, 
and very probably themselves ; and a complete 
answer would convince him that his wisdom 
would be to go with them, and lead all to 
spend a day of rapt enjoyment and of exciting 
joy in the anticipation of the future. 

How much there is to think about, and how 
strong the calls to thought, when the idea of 
a Christian Church rises before the mind ? 
Originating before the world was streaming 
along the lines of all history, and pointing to 
perfection and duration when the world shall 
flee away, and no place be found for it, the 
Christian Church really challenges the study of 
all thinkers. 

It is either an unprecedented imposture or 
a magnificent embodiment of divine love and 
wisdom. A thousand reasons prove that it 
cannot be the former : ten thousand demon- 
strate that it is the latter. In its constitution, 
spirit, purpose, and destiny, it is altogether a 
divine thing. In this earth it is a visitant for 
whom heaven longs as a resident. 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH. 401 



Thus have 1 often seen a vernal rose, 

Which midst the lowering storm untouched appears, 
Though hostile lances all around her close : 

Still o'er the palisade of armed spears, 

Her loveliness unharmed its beauty rears, 
And day by day expanding drinks the shower. 

E'en so unfolding to the eternal years, 
The church discloses her ethereal flower, 
The many-folded Heavens of her unfading bower. 

All things which here are cast in beauty's mould, 
Awful or fair, of soul entrancing power, 

Speak but the things of her celestial fold. 

Heart-stirring love in youth's first blooming hour, 
Gazing intense on beauty's short-lived flower, 

Speaks but the love of that immortal bride, 
And beauty, which is her immortal dower. 

Riches speak treasures which with her abide, 

And fame, the unerring praise which God sets by her side. 

The gems in oceans breast and living spars 
Deep hid in earth's dark bowels far below, 

Shall pave her wondrous pathway to the stars : 
The fairest hues on eve, or morning's brow 

The emblem of her covenantal sign : 

Birds' songs or angels' voices, as they go 

Bearing their aid to weary souls that pine ; — 

All blessings are but streams from her life-giving shrine. 



CHAPTER XII, 

THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

Love resembles, in many points, the free, 
circumambient atmosphere, with its light and 
air. It is diffusive, and will not be confined. 
Pent up, it becomes foul and putrid, and laden 
with malaria, carries with it the seeds of death. 
Its life, purity and healthfulness depend upon 
its free and unrestrained circulation. It is 
while it thus circles about ; now the fitful 
air playing with the leaves and curling the 
tassels of the flowers ; anon, the gentle breeze 
fanning the aching, fevered brow; at another 
time, the stronger wind speeding the vessel to 
the desired haven ; and again, when needful to 
prevent the accumulation of morbid vapors and 
restore the proper equilibrium and due propor- 
tions of the atmosphere, the gale, the tempest 
or the tornado ; — it is, I say, while thus free 
and diffusive that the air is pure, and that gath- 
ering fragrance and perfume from every garden, 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 403 



it imparts life and joy to every living creature. 
And such also is Christian love. Coming down 
from above, it cannot be confined to individuals, 
homes, sanctuaries or denominations. It is 
Christian and Catholic. As there "is a com- 
mon salvation," and "a like faith," and " one 
hope," and "good tidings for all people" — so 
are all Christians " one in Christ Jesus," 
" one fold under one Shepherd." Now of 
this "unity in the Spirit," the bond is love. 
Loving Him that begat, we cannot but love all 
that are begotten of Him. Just as love to a 
friend will create love to his children, and love 
to the children love to the friend, so is it with 
every one that is born of the Spirit. Love to 
Christ pants with love to Christ's followers, and 
goes out in desires, and yearnings, and efforts 
for the happiness of all that are of "the house- 
hold of faith," and returns from its labors of 
love, like the vapors of oceans to increase and 
purify itself. It cannot rest. It cannot 
dwell apart. It cannot remain in the isolated 
bosom. If it does, it becomes sour, selfish, 
morbid, gloomy, censorious, bitter, bigoted, 
hateful and uncharitable, — the poisonous atmos- 
phere of spiritual malignity and death. It is 



404 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



only while it is living and pure, it continues 
hearty, healthful and happy. Christian-love 
remains love — only when it is open, free 
and diffusive, embracing in its arms of charity, 
and in its breast of tenderness confidence and 
affection, all that call on the name of the Lord 
Jesus, both theirs and ours. 

The rain that cometh down from heaven is 
another natural emblem of this spiritual grace 
of Christian love. Sinking into the heart, it 
springs up in ever fresh and living water, 
which as necessarily seeks free course, that it 
may run and be glorified. Pent up in selfish 
sanctity, walled around by sectarian jealousy, 
closed up by the huge stone of besotted fana- 
ticism and one eyed, leering, canting hypocrisy 
— this spring-well of charity becomes a filthy 
stagnant pool breeding vermin and disease ; 
covered over with the putrid slime of decay ; 
an abomination in the sight of God ; and a 
stink in the nostrils of men. Let Christian 
love then run. Take away the stone from the 
well. All our springs are in God, the unfailing 
fountain of the water of life, which never 
can be exhausted. Let it then flow freely. 
See how clear it bubbles up, impregnated with 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 405 



the vital breath of its native heavens ! How 
it sings and smiles as it rolls along in the sun- 
shine and through the green pastures, like 
limpid streams. 

Through life's green vale in beauty gliding, 
Now 'neath the gloom of willows hiding, 
Now glancing o'er the turf away, 
In playful waves and glittering spray. 

Behold every plant of righteousness, how it 
laughs in merry gladness with the fresh buoyant 
life imparted to it. Every leaf glitters with 
pearly drops, and exhales sweet odor. Every 
tint of every flower seems to be fresh painted, 
and every tree to be brightened with a new 
enamel ; and as we walk forth amid this garden 
of the Lord, how does it give forth a sweet 
smell, exhaling that fragrance which is the 
celestial product of a divinely imparted love ! 
Yes ! love is twice blessed in blessing others, and 
as it runs on, gathering to itself every particle 
of divine life, and swelling its volume, it 
receives life with love, and conveys both to 
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and 
people through whose boundaries it passes 
along, until the accumulated waters at last 
34 



406 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



mingle and lose themselves in " seas of hea- 
venly rest." 

" If I can pluck souls from the clutches of 
the devil/' said Bunyan, "I care not where 
they go to be built up in their holy faith." 
And so say I to you, gentle reader. That man 
has never known the heart of Jesus, and felt 
its throbbings beat responsive to His own, 
whose Christian love and charity go no farther 
than his own church. The divisions of the 
earth, w T ith all the evils incident to them — and 
they are legion — are of God and not of man. 
Man would obliterate and destroy them, and 
concentrate all in one great Babel of discord, 
confusion, despotism and terror. But God 
confounds all such schemes, and blasts all such 
unions, and overwhelms all such Babels in 
destruction. And as all the natural divisions 
of the earth are a wise and providential adap- 
tation to the present natural character and 
condition of men, so are also the divisions of 
the church. " There must be heresies," divi- 
sions, sects, various and even erroneous opinions 
and practices. These are evils, gigantic evils, 
and give occasion to all manner of offences. 
But they are necessary. They must needs 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 407 



BE, a in order that they who are approved may 
be made manifest ;" that the water of life may 
be prevented from stagnation; and in order 
that Christians may provoke one another to zeal 
and to love, to work miracles of mercy, and to 
perform mighty works, even though they follow 
not after their company. Why should we grieve 
and distress ourselves, if " Christ is preached 
even in a spirit of contention and hatred towards 
us ?" The evil is theirs, not ours. Why should 
we judge another man's servants? To our 
Common Master they stand or fall. He " will 
try every man's work!" Yea, He will try 
every man's spirit, and render to every man 
as his work shall " be," whether it be the work 
of faith, and sound doctrine, and corresponding 
zeal — " whether it be gold or silver, or precious 
stones — or whether it be only hay, wood and 
stubble." Why then should the herdsmen of 
Lot, and those of Abraham, strive together, 
or Judah vex Ephraim and Ephraim Judah, 
seeing that there is room enough, and water 
enough, and work enough for all, and that when 
the day's labor is done, there will be an even- 
ing's rest and recompense for all from Him 
who "judgeth righteously, and in whose 
Father's house there are many mansions." 



408 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



The longer I live, the larger does my heart 
grow towards Christians, the wider becomes 
the circumference of my charity, and the less 
selfish and jealous is my love towards brethren. 
In looking round on Methodists with their 
seraph Wesley ; or on Lutherans with their lion 
hearted Luther ; or on Calvinists with their Cal- 
vin, — cold it may be, but firm, faithful and lofty 
as the mountains round about his own Geneva, 
visible, like them from afar, and like them 
modifying the temperature of the wide world 
and sending forth streams into all lands ; — or 
whether I look upon the Reformed with their 
Zuingle ; or upon the Moravians with their Zin- 
zenclorf ; or on the Baptists with their Foster, 
Hall, and other worthies ; or on the Episcopa- 
lians with their great cloud of high and holy 
men — faithful witnesses and martyrs to the 
truth ; or on the Congregationalists with their 
Pilgrim Fathers ; or upon any of the other Evan- 
gelical denominations ; I can rejoice and give 
God thanks, that with different forms of god- 
liness, they have all the power ; that with differ- 
ent rites, they have all the substance; that with 
various orders, they have one great High 
Priest, the true minister of the sanctuary; 
that with various dialects, they have one 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 409 



heavenly language ; that with different ecclesi- 
astical circles, they have one Bible, the mag- 
netic centre of them all ; that with various 
uniforms, they have one captain of salvation; 
and that as one sacramental host of Grod's 
elect, they are all waging warfare against 
the common enemy, and fighting the good fight 
of faith. And when I look on our great Ca- 
tholic, Christian, Evangelical, National Socie- 
ties — the Bible, the Tract, and the Sunday- 
school Unions — I rejoice, yea, and I will rejoice, 
when I behold such marvellous manifestation 
of the truth that amid all their diversity of 
administrations, these various denominations 
have one Lord ; and that amid all their ten- 
dencies to sectarian jealousy and distrust they 
are sweetly constrained by divine grace where- 
to they have attained of the faith and charity 
of the gospel, to walk by the same rule and to 
mind the same thing. 

These Associations are living demonstrations 
that amid all their variety of external forms, 
and observances, and amidst even their distinct 
and opposite opinions, all evangelical denomi- 
nations cherish great principles and correspond- 
ing practices which are in themselves power- 
34* 



410 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



fully attractive, and an adequate basis for mu- 
tual and respectful love. And to whatever 
extent full visible communion may be con- 
sidered inexpedient or improper, there may, or 
there ought to be exhibited a spiritual one- 
ness and fellowship in the faith and love of 
Christ ; in the practical design and tendency 
of Christian doctrine ; and in the final hope, 
through grace, of eternal life. Oh, yes I faith 
working through love, will bind all the living 
stones in the spiritual building with the purest 
and most adhesive cement of inviolable friend- 
ship till the w T hole building is completed, and 
all are united together in one heavenly temple 
in Christ Jesus. Then the many tongues of 
earth shall give place to the one heavenly 
language, in which all w T ho love the Lord Jesus 
Christ shall praise Him with harmonious voice. 
Church of Christ, how shall I speak thy coming 
praise and praise thy full-blown beauty ? 

Fair as heaven's doors, which, made of varied stone, 
Yet mingling, form one glory all their own ; 
Sisters of glorious birth, though varied each, 
Each lovely ; and their mien, and form, and speech, 
Mark all one family ; all blend in one — 
Their hues combining in one light divine. 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 411 



Thus in my musings all together shine 
In one harmonious whole, and ever seem 
Passing from form to form, as in a dream, 
Till all is lost in one, in beauty seen, 
Centred in light, one heaven-descended queen. 

These voluntary associations of all evan- 
gelical Christians for the advancement of the 
common salvation, are therefore the fruits, 
the evidence, and the developments of Chris- 
tian love, — only, however, as I earnestly hope 
and pray, the first fruits of a coming harvest — 
and of this love, in all its manifestations, the 
Lord's Supper is at once the bond, the signal, 
the sign and the seal. 

There is but one communion, as there is but 
one Lord. There can, therefore, be but one true 
church, whose centre is Christ, whose circum- 
ference is eternity past and to come, and whose 
radii are the innumerable company of souls 
attracted within that circle, and enlivened and 
enlightened by its heavenly power. Deriving 
from Christ life and energy, imbued by Him 
with common sympathies, motives and aim, all 
Christians should of necessity be actuated by a 
common activity, terminating in a common work. 
We are laborers together with God. We are 



412 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



co-workers and helpers in the Gospel. We 
are the body of Christ, and every one members 
in particular, fitly joined together and sup- 
ported by that which every joint supplieth. 
To every one is given a talent. Every one 
occupies a place in the vineyard, and has a gift, 
and a field for which he is accountable. The 
church is thus " the Arm of the Lord ;" " the 
power of God unto Salvation;" "the pillar and 
ground of the truth ;" the almoner of God's 
mercy. 

Now just as every individual Christian has 
his particular sphere, calling and work, so has 
every church and every denomination theirs, 
and so has also the whole body, — the church 
visible and Catholic — its own peculiar work 
And as the work of every individual Christian 
interferes not, but prepares for, and disposes 
to, and actually merges in, his work as a mem- 
ber of the church ; so is it also with the work 
and duty of churches and denominations. 

These several works also do not prevent, but- 
only "prepare the way of the Lord" in His 
larger field, which is the world. The works of 
righteousness and labors of love which devolve 
upon the whole Christian church, are in regions 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 413 



beyond the boundaries of local churches — in 
the waste places of Zion — in the unbroken 
fallow ground, and in the yet uncleared wil- 
derness. These labors therefore are the de- 
velopments of Christian love uniting in com- 
mon activities for the removal of common 
obstacles ; and for the erection of a common 
highway for the more rapid progress and pros- 
perity of the glorious Gospel of the blessed 
God. Such labors are to the church what 
respiration is to the body, something external 
to its component members, implying their 
healthful existence, dependent upon them, and 
yet distinct and outside of them. And as 
there are some four millions of invisible pores 
in the body these may well respresent the 
general agencies and activities of the church, 
whose office it is to labor for the common good 
of all. And as in the body the closing of these 
pores excites morbid action in all the separate 
members and functions of the body, leading 
to dullness, disease and even death, while their 
free and harmonious co-operation enables each 
separate member to carry on securely and 
healthfully its own functions, so also in like 
manner is this general, united co-operation of 



414 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



Christians essential to the peace, purity, unity 
and prosperity of the every particular deno- 
mination, church, and Christian, while its par- 
tial existence or imperfect operation is the 
evidence, the effect, and the re-active cause of 
coldness inactivity and spiritual languor, dis- 
ease and death. 

Or to vary the illustration, "Ye," that is 
the church, "are (says Christ) the light of the 
world." Now take a ray of light and examine 
it, and it seems to be a simple, uncompounded 
brilliant light. But if you subject that light to 
the prism, you find that instead of one color, 
there are in it not less than seven, and that it 
is the result of the action of violet, indigo, 
green, blue, yellow and green colours, not one 
of them being white. Now so it is with every 
individual Christian church and denomination. 
They are found to be made up of the most 
various, and apparently, conflicting materials, 
none of which to the unspiritual eye of the 
unbeliever, appear to be " pure and undefiled 
religion." But when these are united together 
into one by Him who created the light out of 
darkness and who hath shined into their hearts, 
they appear " clear as the Sun and fair as the 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



Moon." We find, also, that by arranging these 
several colors in their natural order upon a 
wheel, and imparting to it motion, we actually 
produce the pure white brilliant light. And so 
is it when Christians of various denominations 
are brought to act together as a w T heel in the 
chariot of the Gospel, that losing all individual 
peculiarities, they combine so as to present to 
the eyes of God, of angels, and of men, a glo- 
rious light, the glory of the Lord being arisen 
upon them. 

Such is the mystic, mighty and transform- 
ing power of Christian love — of that communion 
of Saints, of which the Lord's Supper is the 
sign, the seal, the pledge, the obligation, the evi- 
dence, and the actual manifestation. 

Mid scenes of confusion and creature complaints, 

How sweet to my soul the Communion of Saints, 

To find at Christ's banquet for all there is room, 

Who find in the presence of Jesus a home! 

Sweet bond that unites all the children of peace, 

Pledge of conquest in arms, and from all troubles release. 

As there is but one Lord so is there but one 
Supper, and one death showed forth in it. All 
Christians are branches, but they are all united 
to Christ, and derive their life from the one vine. 



416 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



All Christians are members of that one body, 
of which Christ is the head. All Christians 
are children, and the children too of the one 
Father and of one mother, " the mother of us 
all." All Christians, therefore, participate in 
the Lord's Supper at one board, of one bread 
and one wine. The Lord's Supper is thus to 
Christians what it is to Christianity. It is 
like the tabernacle in the midst of the sur- 
rounding tribes, binding them together through 
all the wilderness, notwithstanding all their 
tribal distinctions, and their separate encamp- 
ments. It is what the Temple and the great 
feasts at Jerusalem were amid the territorial 
divisions of the Israelites in Canaan. It is 
what Mount Zion was among the other hills of 
Judea. It is the fold where the various flocks 
of the common herd, however scattered up and 
down over the mountains and the valleys, are 
gathered home at twilight to meet together 
under the loving care of the good Shepherd. 
It is the Father's house where the children of 
its many mansions are collected to the evening 
meal, and eat bread, and drink wine with one 
another at this Supper of the Lord spread for 
them in His Father's house. It is the banner 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 417 



of salvation, given because of the truth, to 
the army of the living God, waving trium- 
phantly over the collected forces as they here 
meet in review before their common leader — the 
captain of the Lord's host, the angel of the 
covenant, the deliverer and commander of the 
people, — that under it they may swear fresh 
fealty to Him, and be inspired with fresh loyalty 
and ardour to go forth again into all the world, 
and contend earnestly for the faith, until the 
kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Yes, 
the Lord's Supper is the King's tent, amid the 
surrounding tents, where every good soldier 
of Christ, as he passes by, receives a pledge of 
His favor, a badge of honor, a word in season, 
a new heart and a right spirit, that again 
forming in the ranks of war, he may fight man- 
fully the good fight of faith, knowing that 
henceforth there is laid up for him a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
Judge, will give, and not to him only, but to 
every one who has been faithful unto death ! 

Communion of Saints ! how sweet the sound 
to a believer's ear ! Here we feel that how- 
ever separated as living stones and different 
35 



418 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



compartments, we are one temple of the Holy 
Ghost — no more strangers and foreigners, but 
fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the house- 
hold of God, and are built upon the foundation 
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ him- 
self being the chief corner-stone, in whom all 
the building, fitly framed together, groweth 
unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye 
also are builded together for an habitation of 
God through the Spirit. 

The Lord's Supper is, therefore, " the bond 
of perfectness ;" " the unity of the Spirit in the 
bond of peace ;" the -avowal to the world that 
under all the variations of its forms, govern- 
ment and order, there is but " one church of 
God, which He purchased with His own blood,' ' 
"one Lord" over it, "one faith" animating 
it, "one baptism" of the Spirit — not outward in 
the flesh, but " the washing, of regeneration, 
and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" — one God 
and Father of all, who is above all, and through 
all, and in all; and that while "unto every 
one of us is given grace according to the mea- 
sure of the gift of Christ, it is the same 
Spirit who worketh in them all severally as He 
wills. 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 419 



The love of God shed abroad in their heart by 
the Holy Ghost, the love of Christ constraining 
them, and the love of the Spirit working in 
them love to one another, is therefore the very 
essence of Christian life, "the Christian's vital 
breath," the brightest evidence of his being 
born of God and made a new creature in 
Christ Jesus, and the earnest of his inheritance 
among the saints in light. 

In descending the Upper Nile, says a recent 
traveller, the Arab boatmen called out "Enga- 
lesee, Engalesee." This was responded to by 
a similar cry from an ascending boat. It was 
understood that there was an "Englishman" 
on board of each. With no other knowledge 
than this, both directed their boats to the shore 
for a meeting. Each was alone, and it was a 
joy to meet one under these circumstances who 
could even speak the same language. 

This Englishman, however, might be an illite- 
rate boor. But, no, he proved to be a man of 
education and refinement, a graduate of Cam- 
bridge. But he might still be an infidel or 
ungodly, with whom one could only make a few 
inquiries about worldly things, and pass on to 
become strangers as much as before. On the 



420 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



contrary, he proves to be a Christian. But he 
might be in pursuit of the world or of pleasure. 
But no, he was a minister of the Gospel, in 
pursuit of strength to work for his Lord. But 
still he might entertain those views of religion 
itself, which would constitute a barrier to the 
fullest communion of souls. But no, there was 
no difference in this last, and highest, and sweet- 
est of all respects. A more congenial spirit 
could not have been found in any land. What 
a meeting ! In a few minutes we were one. 
Vast oceans rolled between us and everything 
loved on earth. We were separated by five 
hundred miles from the nearest individual that 
bore even the name of Christian, with boundless 
deserts on either side, with the exception of 
the narrow valley which stood before us, 



The unintelligible gutturals of the Arabs, to 
whom time was little and eternity less, gradu- 
ally ceased as they fell to sleep on the sand, 
and we were left to full communion of soul, 
seeming to find our God and Saviour nearer in 
this far-off land. But this meeting was brief. 
A few hours, and we parted, to see each other's 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 421 



faces no more until the great Judgment Day. 
But even here was there in brief, the image 
and resemblance of a future and eternal and 
perfect communion in Christ ; where the re- 
deemed of all ages, countries, and nations shall 
meet, to enjoy the full realization of that of 
which so many have sung, in " The voice of 
free grace,' ' — 

" We'll range the blest fields on the banks of the river, 
And sing of salvation forever and ever." 

"The Communion of Saints" is, therefore, 
a fundamental article of the Christian faith, and 
embodied in its earliest creeds, as it was exem- 
plified in the loving character and self-denying 
acts of its primitive disciples, and it is not less 
essential now. It is now and always was made 
imperative, and forced upon the conscience and 
heart of Christians by the showing forth in the 
communion of a common Saviour ; the Lord, 
both of the living and the dead; — by "the 
Lord's death till He come." 

"The whole family in heaven and earth!" 

The difference betwixt us and them, says Bun- 

yan, is, not that we are really two, but one 

body in Christ, in divers places. True, we are 

35* 



422 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



below stairs, and they above ; they in their 
holiday, and we in our working-day clothes; 
they in harbor, but we in the storm ; they at 
rest, but we in the wilderness ; they singing, 
as crowned with joy, we crying, as crowned 
with thorns. But we are all of one house, one 
family, and are all the children of one Father. 
Precious ! most precious doctrine ! Precious 
alike to the living and the dead, and equally 
as it regards our friends living, dying, and 
when they have "gone before." 

Come let us join our friends above. 

That have obtained the prize ; 
And on the eagle wings of love, 

To joy celestial rise. 

Let saints below his praises sing, 

With those to glory gone ; 
For all the servants of our King, 

In heaven and earth, are one 

One family, we dwell in Him, 

One church above, beneath : 
Though now divided by the stream, 

The narrow stream of death. 

One army of the living God, 

To his commands we bow ; 
Part of the host have crossed the flood, 

And part are crossing now. 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 423 



" But do I believe this in the heavenly import 
of this blessed doctrine, in its full, rich clus- 
tering of spiritual affections ? The communion 
of saints ! What is it ? Not the acceptance 
of that faith which the saints in common pro- 
fess. Not the communion of my own parish, 
or of any church or party. All these may 
be found where the communion of saints is not. 

" The illustration introduced above, is a faint 
emblem of the communion of saints, but scarce 
a resemblance. We are fellow-pilgrims in the 
rough and difficult path to the Celestial City. 
Polluted alike with sin, and harassed with in- 
firmities ; differing in a thousand minor things, 
but with one strong common purpose to tread 
the same road, to follow the same Leader, and 
to reach the same goal. The road is conflict, 
the leader is Christ, and the goal is Heaven. 
Churches are important only as they advance 
our onward progress, and our oneness with Him 
who purchased us with His own blood. The 
fact, then, that we are Christians in the deep 
spiritual meaning of the term, forms a bond too 
strong, too pure, too enduring to be appreciated 
by any but those who can say, with the convic- 
tion and fervor of Thomas, ' My Lord and my 



424 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 



God.' Differing, as we may, in many things, 
we are one in Christ, our righteousness and 
our trust. One in our daily experience and 
our spiritual aspirations. One in our fears and 
weakness, one in our strength and ultimate 
triumph. One in our final song, ' Worthy 
the Lamb.' Oh, let this communion, this 
sharing of the dearest interests, the sharpest 
conflicts, and the noblest of all victories, be to 
us a foretaste of that unbroken communion in 
Heaven, where sin, infirmity, and conflicting 
interests can never enter. And when we come 
to the Lord's table to renew our visible cove- 
nant with Him, and to seal our union with each 
other by eating together, let us go forth into 
the world with this commutiion so manifest in 
our affectionate intercourse and charitable for- 
bearance, that men shall say once again, ' See 
how these Christians love one another/ — 
Would not Satan tremble then? His followers 
love not one another."* 

* It is with great pleasure, and with more than wil- 
lingness, I adopt these Catholic sentiments from the Par- 
rish Visitor, the able organ of the Evangelical Knowledge 
Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

Here then, dear reader, I leave you. I have 
not intended, nor endeavored to provide for 
you a systematic or didactic treatise on the 
church and the Lord's Supper. I have rather 
designed to enter into personal conversation with 
you, and talk with you as a friend talketh with 
his friend, face to face. There are yet many 
things of which, were we together, I might 
still speak, touching the King and His beauty, 
for if all were told, the world could not contain 
the books that should be written. Tou see, 
however, how large a letter I have written 
unto you, with mine own hand, out of my heart 
of hearts, and with earnest prayers, that you 
may be united by a true and loving faith to 
Christ and His church on earth, and that hav- 
ing served Him long, faithfully, and success- 
fully here on earth, " and well earned a grave," 
and a grave's hallowed rest, you may come unto 



426 CONCLUSION. 



Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living 
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innu- 
merable company of angels, to the general 
assembly and church of the first-born, which are 
written in Heaven, and to God the judge of all, 
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 
and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, 
and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh 
better things than that of Abel/' 

May it be so with you, dear reader. Fare 
thee well. Adieu. I will still commend you 
to God, and to the power of His grace, and to 
the ever-present, all-sustaining, all-sufficient 
Comforter ; and my last wish for you is, that 
your last communion and your dying consola- 
tion may be as blessed as those of the young 
female disciple with whose testimony I will 
conclude. 

She had been an invalid for several months, 
and her last illness was attended by much 
physical suffering, which she endured patient- 
ly, and with submission to the Divine will. 
A short time previous to her death, on being 
interrogated in regard to the state of her mind 
and her future prospects, she exclaimed, — 
" Bright — all bright and glorious — Jesus is 



CONCLUSION. 427 



precious — He will keep that which I have com- 
mitted to his hand." 

On another occasion, she remarked, "I have 
now been confined to my room three months, 
and although wasted by disease, amid all my 
suffering, I have found Christ precious. I am 
ready and willing to go to my heavenly Father 
— yea, I long to be gone to that happy land 
where all God's people will have done with sin 
and sorrow. I have had to-day bright views 
of my Saviour. I have longed to break from 
this tenement of clay, and soar to my Saviour's 
loving arms. Each day I see more and more 
of my unworthiness. Satan is near with his 
devices ; but Christ is also near to guard and 
guide me home to the heavenly Canaan." 

A week previous to her decease, she thus 
wrote : " To-day I was permitted to commemo- 
rate the love of Christ at his table ; and although 
suffering acutely, yet in meditating on His last 
sufferings, and why He suffered, my pains 
seemed lighter. Thanks to my precious Sa- 
viour, for his presence, and for patience to bear 
up under my afflictions. Precious Saviour — a 
few more hours — " Here her pen ceased, and 
in one week her sanctified spirit, we trust, was 



428 CONCLUSION. 



with her Redeemer, and with the spirits of the 
just made perfect, whose names are written in 
heaven. 

An interview with her father, and which 
proved to be her last, was of a most affecting 
character. It was indeed overwhelming to his 
manly frame, and the gushing tears evinced the 
depth of his emotion. Fixing steadfastly her 
languid eye upon him, she most impressively 
charged him to meet her in heaven. This 
solemn charge, falling from the lips of his dying 
child, sunk like lead into his agonized soul, and 
there, over his loved one, almost in the embrace 
of death, he solemnly vowed to the Lord, that 
he would strive to meet her in a better world. 

Dear reader, let you and I also go to Jesus, 
that living we may be His, and that dying 
we may die the death of the righteous, and our 
last end be peace. 

And oh ! may you and I meet in heaven? 
and there sit down together with Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob, at the marriage supper of the 
Lamb. Amen and Amen. 






CONCLUSION. 



« MAKE HASTE, MY BELOVED/' 

Song viii. 14. 

Pass away, earthly joy, 

Jesus is mine ! 
Break every mortal tie, 

Jesus is mine ! 
Dark is the wilderness ; 
Distant the resting-place ; 
Jesus alone can bless : — 

Jesus is mine ! 

Tempt not my soul away, 

Jesus is mine ! 
Here would I ever stay, 

Jesus is mine ! 
Perishing things of clay, 
Born but for one brief day, 
Pass from my heart away, — 

Jesus is mine ! 

Fare ye well, dreams of night, 

Jesus is mine ! 
Mine is a dawning bright, 

Jesus is mine ! 
All that my soul has tried, 
Left but a dismal void, 
Jesus has satisfied, — 

Jesus is mine ! 

Farewell, mortality, 

Jesus is mine ! 
Welcome, eternity, 

Jesus is mine ! 

36 



430 CONCLUSION. 



Welcome, ye scenes of rest, 
Welcome, ye mansions blest, 
Welcome, a Saviour's breast, — 
Jesus is mine ! 

Now the God of peace that brought again 
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shep- 
herd of the sheep, through the blood of the 
everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every 
good work to do His will ; working in you that 
which is well pleasing in His sight, through 
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and 
ever, Amen. 



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"GIVE IT UP1 NO, NEVER !" 

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AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 
THE DRUIDS ; 

OR, PICTURES OP BRITAIN AT THE TIME OP CHRIST. 

With twelve Engravings. 118 pp. 18mo. 



EVENINGS IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. 

Translated from the French of Madame Guizot. With numerous and 
beautiful Illustrations. 156 pp. 18mo. 28 cts. 



FRANK NETHERTON; 

OR, THE TALISMAN. 

With beautiful Engravings. 



GRACE RAYMOND; 

OR, THE EVIL AND CURE OF A PASSIONATE TEMPER. 

Written for the American Sunday-school Union, by a deaf and dumb lady 
104 pp. 18mo. 18 cts. — in muslin 20 cts. 



GREAT TRUTHS 

IN SIMPLE WORDS FOR CHILDREN. 

108 pp. 18mo. 18 cts. half bound— in muslin 20 cts 



HUBERT LEE; 

OR, HOW A CHILD MAT DO GOOD. 

Embellished with lithographic Prints 



GRACE DERMOTT; 

OR, HOW TO LIGHTEN HEAVY BURDENS. 

198 pp. 18mo. 27 cts. half bound— 30 cts. in muslin. 



MARY ELLIS; 

OR, THE SPIRIT OF BENEVOLENCE EXEMPLIFIED 

18mo. Muslin 20 cts.— half bound 18 cts. 



THE BAR OF IRON; 

OR, THE DANGER OF UNSANCTIFTED AFFLICTION. 

An exceedingly interesting Narrative. 68 pp 14 cfe* 



PUBLICATIONS OF THE 



ELMSGROVE; 

OR, SUNDAY-SCHOOL BOYS CONTRASTED. 

With two fine Engravings. 84 pp. 18mo. 16 eta 



THE FUCHSIA; 

A MEMOIR OP ELIZABETH E , BY HER SUNDAY-SCHOOL IBACHHL 

With Engravings. 65 pp. 14 cts. 



FANNY AND HER MOTHER. 

With eight beautiful Engravings. 234 pp. 16mo. squto*. 



HUGH FISHER; 

OR, HOME PRINCIPLES CARRIED OUT. 

With Illustrative Cuts. 238 pp. 18mo, 



ELIZABETH FRY; 

THE CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPIST. 

With a beautiful steel Engraving. 



A GIFT FOR MY SUNDAY SCHOLARS. 

108 pp. 18 cts.— in muslin 20 cts. 



MARY GREY; 

OR, THE FAITHFUL NURSE. 

With three Engravings. 174 pp. 18mo. 25 eta. 



HOLIDAY HOURS IMPROVED 

224 pp. 12mo. 60 cts. 



HARRY AND WILLIE. 

86 pp. 18mo. 9 cts. 



INFLUENCE; 

OR, THE LITTLE SILK-WINDER. 

With Engravings. 108 pp. ISmo. 18 cts.— in muslin 28 1 



AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 

THE HIVE AND ITS WONDERS. 

126 pp. 18mo. 20 cts.— in muslin 22 cts. 



MEMOIR OF LITTLE JOSEPHINE. 

With a Frontispiece. 72 pp. ISmo. 14 cts.— in muslin 16 eta. 



JANE AND WILLY'S VISIT TO THE FARM. 

With Engravings. 54 pp. 18mo. 12 cts.— in muslin 12$ eta. 



LITTLE BILL AT THE PUMP. 
36 pp. 9 cts. 



THE LITTLE QUEEN. 

With Frontispiece. 36 pp. 9 cts. 



LOOK UP; 

OS, GIRLS AND FLOWERS. 

With fine Engravings. 118 pp. 18mo. 20 cts.— in muslin 22 ofcfl. 



LITTLE JIM, THE RAG MERCHANT. 

A tale of truth and honesty. 52 pp. 12 cts. 



LIFE IN THE WEST; 

OR, THE MORETON FAMILY. 

By tho author of the "Village Boys." With several Engravings. 
258 pp. 18mo. 34 cts.— in muslin 37$ cts. 



LYNN'S CREEK; 

OR, TWO DATS' EXPERIENCE IN THE LIFE OF WILLIE GRAY. 

68 pp. 18mo. 14 cts. half bound— in muslin 16 cts. 



THE LIFE OF LUTHER; 

With special reference to its Earlier Periods and the Opening Scsra 

•F the Reformation. By Barnas Sears, D. D. 528 pp. 12mo, $L 

468 pp. 18mo, 50 cts. 8vo, muslin $1.25 — library style $1.50. 

1* 



PUBLICATIONS OF THE 



LITTLE KITTY BROWN AND HER BIBLE VERSES. 

90 pp. 18mo. 18 cts.— in muslin 20 cts. 



LIGHT AND LOVE FOR THE NURSERY GROUP. 

Beautifully Illustrated. 166 pp. 12mo. In muslin 50 eta. 
/ 

MARY CARROWS SCHOOL. 

In tiiree yolumes, containing the history of three separate days. 
64 pp. 12£ cts. each. 



FOURTH DAY IN MARY CARROWS SCHOOL. 

With many Engravings. 87 pp. 16mo. 18 cts. 



MODERN LONDON. 

With several Engravings. 
102 pp. 18mo. Paper covers 12£ cts.— -bound 21 cts. 



THE NEW SCHOLAR. 

108 pp. 18 cts.— in muslin 20 cts. 



MORAL LESSONS. 

Quarto, with ten large coloured pictorial Illustrations. 75 cts. 



THE TWO SUFFERERS. 

SKETCHED FROM LIFE. 

184 pp. 21 cts.— in muslin 24 cts. 



THE VILLAGE BOYS; 

OR, THE SIN OF PROFANENESS. 

Embellished with superior Engravings. 
144 pp. 18mo. 21 cts. — in muslin 24 cts. 



OLD JAMES, THE IRISH PEDLAR. 

With seven beautiful Engravings. 
d8 pp. 18mo. Paper covers 12£ cts.— half bound 18 cts.— in muslin 20 cts. 



AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 
MACDONALD; 

OR, THE GREAT MISTAKE. 

52 pp. 12 cts. 



LIGHT ON LITTLE GRAVES. 

With beautiful Frontispiece from an original design. 
144 pp. 21 cts. — in muslin 24 cts. 



THE NESTORIANS OF PERSIA: 

4 HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THAT PEOPLE, AND OP 
8IONARY LABOURS AMONG THEM, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF TBB 
NESTORIAN MASSACRES BY THE KOORDS. 

Illustrated with numerous and superior Engravings. 
174 pp. 18mo. 25 cts. — in muslin 28 cts. 



PARTING GIFT TO A CHRISTIAN FRIEND. 

102 pp. 18mo. 18 cts. — in muslin 20 cts. 



DB. PLUMER'S PLAIN AND SIMPLE ADDBESSES TO 
CHILDREN. 

126 pp. 18mo. 20 cts. — in muslin 22 cts. 



THE FOLLY OF PROCRASTINATION. 

in original story, with an original Frontispiece. 54 pp. 18mo. 12 ett 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THOMAS COOKE PAUL, 

OF PETERSBURG, (VA.) 

With a fine Steel Frontispiece. 230 pp. 30 cts.— in muslin 33 cts. 



ROSA'S CHILDHOOD; 

OR, THE IMPORTANCE OF PRINCIPLE AS AN ELEMENT OF 

With Engravings. 108 pp. 18 cts.— in muslin 20 ets. 



ELLEN SINCLAIR; 

CB, THE EARNEST INQUIRER. 

12pi\ 12mo. 



PUBLICATIONS OF THE 



MOEAL HEROISM; 

0&, *H1 TRIAL8 AND TRIUMPHS OP THE GREAT AND 800D. 

With Engravings. 344 pp. 45 cts. 



THE ROBERTS FAMILY. 

72 pp. Bound 14 cts* — in muslin 16 cts. 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL ILLUSTRATIONS. 

AN INCENTIVE TO ATTENDANCE ON THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

With several Engravings. 160 pp. 18mo. 23 cts. — in muslin 26 cts. 



TRADES DESCRIBED AND IMPROVED. 

With numerous Engravings. 180 pp. 25 cts. 



SICKNESS IMPROVED. 

With a beautiful emblematical Frontispiece, 

154 pp. 18mo. 23 cts. — in muslin 26 cts. 



SUNDAY HOURS. 

With a number of superior Engravings. 160 pp. ISmo. 28 ots. — la 
muslin 26 cts. 



SIMPLE BALLADS; 

OR, A COLLECTION OP POPULAR POEMS, FROM VARIOUS 80URCE8. 

With a fine Steel Engraving. 188 pp. 12mo. 40 cts. 



STORIES OF SCHOOL-BOYS. 
With Engravings. 150 pp. 23 cts.— in muslin 26 : 



THE TURNING POINT. 

A book for thinking Boys and Girls. 

62 pp. 12 cts. 



LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 

192 pp. 18mo. 21 cts. 



AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. ! 

i ■ '■ * 

THE FRETFUL GIRL. 

» title indicates the subject of the story, but no one can tell to wh« 

it applies, or what may be learned from it, without reading it, 

86 pp. 16 ctfl.—in muslin 18 eta. 



SUNNY SIDE; 

OR, THE COUNTRY MINISTER'S WIFE. 

With original Engravings. 144 pp. lSmo. 25 eta.— in muslm 28 eta 



THE TALKING BIBLE, 

S3 pp. 18mo. cts. 



HENRY WOOD; 

OR, THE FIRST STEP IN THE DOWNWARD ROA». 

With two original Engravings. 
144 pp. 18mo, 21 cts.— in muslin 24 eta. 



WHEN I WAS YOUNG; 

OR, GIDEON AND HIS GRAND-CHILDREN. 

With handsome Engravings. 
162 pp. 18ma 23 cts.— in muslin 26 cts. 



HARRY WILSON, THE NEWSBOY, 

With three Engravings. 
86 pp. 18mo, 16 cts.— in muslin 18 eta. 



JOHN WESLEY; 

IBS CONVERTED AFRICAN DOT. 

Wife * toe Frontkpieee. 90 pp. 16 cts.— in musto U i 



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Neutralizing agent: Magnepit^ Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct. 200* 

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